Live Review - Swarm Tour

Artists:  Twelve Foot Ninja, Jericco, Circles (All Melbourne, Australia)

Date/s:  24 March & 30 March, 2012 – Evelyn Hotel & Ferntree Gully Hotel

The Swarm Tour brought together three of Melbourne’s leading upstart bands.  If you’re familiar with the alternative metal scene in Melbourne, you’re probably familiar, in some way, with all three artists on this bill.  Each one has been forging their own path around the country, slowly gathering their own loyal following and infecting the ears of anyone willing to listen.  Circles have been gathering fans abroad, Jericco are becoming one of the most recognisable names in Melbourne’s live scene and Twelve Foot Ninja continue to build upon their reputation of being Australia’s answer to Faith No More.  So why not join together, tour the country and leave a path of ringing ears and the after-effects of silly metal nerd antics in their wake?  I happened to see two of these shows, so what follows is sort of a mashed together review of both nights.

Circles:  Let’s start with the babies of the tour.  Even though, Circles have been around for quite a few years, things have really picked up in the last eighteen months for the Melbourne quintet, giving the impression that they have emerged out of nowhere.  While the sound at The Evelyn show wasn’t the best, the band seemed to have one of, if not the largest crowd of the night.  Each time I go to a Circles show, I notice a few more Circles t-shirts, which of course, is an excellent sign that things are catching on here at home as well as overseas.  The band didn’t play any of their newer tunes, preferring to save them for later in the year when, hopefully, their debut album is complete (and from the demos I’ve heard, it’s going to be killer!).  I’ve written about their live show before and not much has changed.  They still hit hard, they still engage, they’re still winning fans.  Go check them out.  A strange thing happened at the Ferntree Gully Hotel show of this tour though (and I’ve heard from various sources, that it was the norm for the other shows, despite not being the case at The Evelyn).  Circles played first and were followed by a local band before Jericco and Twelve Foot Ninja closed the night.  Now, this is odd because the shows were advertised as a three-band tour.  Twelve Foot Ninja, Jericco and Circles were all on the poster.  It was billed as a three-headed metal beast.  Any supports should have played before Circles, not after.  As a punter, you’d expect to see the three bands on the bill playing the three last sets.  As a punter, knowing that this is normally the case, you might decide to turn up late to the show because you know some local band you’re not interested in will be playing first.  As a punter, you’d be extremely disappointed if you turned up late, assuming that the support band would play first only to find that one of the bands you were really excited to see (Circles) had already played and now you have to sit through a set by the very band you were trying to avoid.  This is not a rant against the support band, whoever they were at the Ferntree Gully Hotel.  It’s just to point out the organisational stupidity of whoever was in charge of making that boneheaded decision.

Jericco:  Jericco are an interesting prospect for me.  For several different reasons, I’ve missed them at every gig they’ve played at, whether it is a festival or their supporting another band.  It has never been done on purpose.  How can I deliberately avoid a band I know very little about?  So now, at The Evelyn I finally managed to see them and all they have to offer.  Personally, they’re not really my style.  There’s no doubt that they are a very good band.  They put on an engaging show and the crowd showed their love for the band.  It’s just that there is a glut of these kinds of bands in Australia at the moment.  After the initial popularity of The Butterfly Effect, Cog and Karnivool, it seems as though every musician in Australia is imitating this style to varying degrees of success.  Jericco are a good band.  I could just as easily listen to Karnivool though who do this style better.  At The Ferntree Gully Hotel show I, again, missed Jericco’s set (due to a strange mission involving driving up a mountain, walking for ten minutes in pitch black bush and two thirty litre barrels of water), so I can’t comment on it.

Twelve Foot Ninja:  What can I say?  This band is killing it right now!  They’ve never been tighter, they’ve never sounded bigger and they’ve never delivered a set with this much punch (apart from, maybe, their supporting set at the Tesseract/Periphery show).  Everything about Twelve Foot Ninja on these two nights pointed to something very exciting around the corner.  That thing, of course, is their debut album to be released at some stage later this year (recording has finished and they’re in the middle of mixing).  Twelve Foot Ninja are on fire and you should definitely check them out if you’re a fan of alternative metal in any way.  The band played some of the new tracks and they seem to be getting heavier.  While the band does incorporate many different styles into their music, there is no doubt that, with each batch of new songs, the emphasis of skull crushing riffs and rhythms is growing which only indicates excellent things for the album.  Their new guitar player also seems to be quite an asset to the band, providing some great fretwork and backing vocals that blended perfectly with Kin’s powerful voice.  Go see them and buy their album!

Album Review - Redemption City

Artist: Joseph Arthur (USA)

Release Date: 18 January, 2012

My first experience with Joseph Arthur was when he came out here a couple of years ago for the Byron Bay Bluesfest as one third of the folk supergroup, Fistful Of Mercy.  In that trio, he was the unknown quantity for Australian audiences.  Ben Harper’s credentials are well known in Australia.  He’s huge here, capable of selling out our largest venues.  Dhani Harrison has the benefit of being the son of one of the most well-known musicians of all-time.  His father was, of course, Beatle and solo artist, George Harrison.  Joseph Arthur, on the other hand, had the, “Joseph who?” factor about him.  I personally find Fistful Of Mercy a little boring.  Their intentions are noble and they deserve to be listened to, but it just doesn’t do much for me.  However, during their Bluesfest set, Arthur was given the opportunity to play one of his solo songs for the audience, In The Sun.  I loved it.  It was the clear highlight of their set and I made a quick mental note to check out some more of his material once I got home.  However, once I got home, I promptly forgot to delve any deeper than the track he played at Bluesfest.  My second encounter with him was a couple of solo sets he played over the PJ20 weekend in September last year where I was utterly captivated by this man creating an entire band with nothing more than his guitar, his voice and a loop station.  In the middle of songs he would use blank canvases to paint abstract, improvised art pieces (which, I’m told, are auctioned for charity after each show).  His music was unlike anything I had heard.  It was almost a spoken word/rap style vocal over folk rock music.  It was an interesting combination, but what struck me the most was the message he was trying to get across, and it is this message that is the sole focus of his latest album, Redemption City.

Available as a free download from Arthur’s website, Redemption City, is a sprawling double album about the loss of hope within humanity and how, now that we are approaching the point of bottoming out, we can begin to see the way forward.  It’s about refocusing our energy away from seeking happiness through working careers that we don’t really care for and towards a truer form of freedom and an internal peace that we can only achieve if we work together as a whole.  That’s a pretty big statement to make and an incredibly large task to take on.  Like most double albums with big themes, there are a few missteps on Redemption City, but there are also some tracks that completely make up for these moments where the album isn’t totally engaging.

            Opening song, Travel As Equals, is one of those tracks.  It absolutely nails the big ideas of the album and is the perfect opener for this sprawling set.  It speaks of man’s need to come together, to put aside the fickle nature of modern pop-culture and selfish self-promotion, and dispense of our misguided ideas about long careers with lots of money providing us with happiness.  Arthur lays it all out plainly and simply when he suggests that, “You might have a greater income / or you might be dumb or dull / Either way I won’t leave you / We travel as equals or not at all”.  It may seem a little too simplistic to some, but what Arthur is doing, while giving us an idea of his social philosophy, is setting the listener up to go on a journey with him.  He’s suggesting that listening to this record is not a case of you being in awe of a performer for their song-writing skill or their technical prowess.  He’s making the listener his equal and laying down the basis of the relationship for the twenty-three tracks to follow.  Arthur wants to take you on a tour of his city of redemption and he wants you to experience it as his equal, not as his fan.

            Another highlight has to be the stirring, Yer Only Job, where Arthur sings about finding some kind of internal truth.  Again, he lays it all down in a fairly plain, conversational manner when he speaks/raps/sings, “Your only job is to be free / Free to live inside a tree / Free to see the way you see / If it’s strange then let it be”.  Again, Arthur is reinforcing his ideas about true freedom.  It’s an idea that we are constantly led to believe that our happiness and freedom lies within our ability to increase our monetary income.  Through various avenues (whether they are right or wrong is totally up to you), we are generally led to believe that if we have more money, we’ll be able to afford more things that will make us happy, that we will be able to afford more time to do our own thing and be free at some stage.  Unfortunately, what ends up happing is that we work and work and work in order to, hopefully one day, have enough money to be free and then we die.  Arthur wants his listeners to realise that there is a freedom within them that can be accessed through simple choices.  These choices may be terrifying because they present us with the unknown, but it within this unknown that we just might find ourselves and live a life worth living.

            Now, I’m well aware that all of this could potentially come across as pretentious, hippie wank.  And a lot of people may see it that way.  That’s totally fine, that’s their opinion.  But Arthur manages to deliver his message to his audience with some truly great sound scapes that perfectly capture the ideas and emotion of his words.  The music genuinely made me feel as though I could quite easily quite my job and just roam the earth finding new experience after new experience and truly live.  And it’s this very quality that is the strength of Redemption City.  While it might be flat in patches and too long for most modern attention spans, there is no doubt that there are moments of true brilliance waiting to be discovered by anyone willing to listen.  So why not give it a go.  Download it here and have a listen.  It doesn’t cost you anything.

Album Review - The Ballad of Roger and Grace

Artists:  Daniel Kitson & Gavin Osborn (UK)

Release Date: 15 February, 2012

This is not, strictly, a music album.  It’s a story.  Half of it is told through song by Gavin Osborn, the other half is a spoken narrative by Daniel Kitson.  The recording is also five years old (or, at least, that’s what Kitson believes).  The reasons that it hasn’t seen the light of day before now are varied, involving one lost copy and several years of life.  But it is here now, and it is a joy to listen to.

            Daniel Kitson is one of the finest comedians on the planet (as I’ve stated before), and with his friend, Gavin Osborn, he has created a story that is every bit as touching, moving, and delicate as it is funny.  For those not in the know, Kitson does two types of shows.  The type he is most well known for is stand-up comedy.  The other type is more theatre based.  Kitson describes them as storytelling shows.  They are, essentially, monologues that tell intricate stories about certain events that are based in truth (or are they?).  While these storytelling shows are still funny, they are every bit as sad and moving.  It is this second type of show in which The Ballad of Roger and Grace is rooted.

            The album is split into halves and tells three stories.  Daniel Kitson delivers two of the stories in a narrative.  These stories involve young twenty-something, Charlie, who happens to sit next to an elderly gentleman named Roger.  Despite his best efforts to avoid social contact, Charlie winds up chatting to Roger and Roger decides to tell Charlie a story.  But not just any story.  Roger wants to tell Charlie about “the greatest love story ever told”.  Not surprisingly, this story is actually the story of how Roger came to meet the love of his life, Grace.  This section of the overall piece comprises the odd numbered tracks on the album (tracks 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11).  The third story is Charlie’s back-story.  Gavin Osborn delivers this section through song.  The songs are, in fact, Charlie’s songs as we learn that he is a musician, and they concern his own love story regarding a woman who is/was an arts student (she is never named throughout the piece, she is simply referred to as “you”).  Osborn is, therefore, playing the part of Charlie as all of the songs are in first person and comprise the even numbered tracks on the album (that’s right, tracks 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10).

            I can’t begin to tell you how perfectly executed this story is.  In one moment you may be chuckling away to a piece of clever whimsy, and the next you may find yourself holding back a tear.  If you’ve ever seen any of Kiston’s storytelling shows, you know what you’re in for and you know his genius.  If you haven’t seen Kitson’s work, allow me to inform you of a few things.  Kitson has an uncanny knack of being able suck you into his character’s situations.  You laugh when they laugh and you cry when they cry.  He is a master storyteller who engages you immediately with his use of language and fast-paced delivery.

Osborn proves that he is no slouch either.  When Osborn sings about Charlie falling in love with the girl during high school and the awkward social situation/s Charlie gets into trying to impress and gain the attention of the girl, you can absolutely relate.  Everyone’s had a school yard crush and has felt the ‘if I don’t do something about this now I’ll die and the whole world will end…or at the very least, I’ll be completely miserable for the rest of my life’, feeling that this situation brings on.  Of course, as we grow older we become more and more wary of these situations and we become more and more jaded by heartbreaks and disappointments.  But at the same time, we are buoyed by victories; moments when everything works out just the way we had planned and it is these moments that keep us going and make us capable of enduring the aforementioned disappointments.  It is Kitson and Osborn’s ability to explore these moments with such detail, with such realism, with such invention and such emotion that had me completely sucked into the story.  I felt everything that the characters were feeling and related to it totally and completely.  There are genuine moments when I listen to this that have the hair on the back of my neck standing up, that generate that nervous pit in the stomach.  There are moments where, just as Charlie is reminded about moments from his own life by Roger’s story, I am reminded about moments of my life through Charlie and Roger’s respective stories.

            Kitson and Osborn have created a brilliant piece of art here.  It explores our ideas about love, hope and fantasy as well as it does our fear of inevitable loss and heartbreak.  It is profoundly human and as heart-warming as it is devastatingly sad.  But having written that, nothing can prepare you for the ending of the story.  While it might be initially jarring (it is honestly the only thing I think people will point out as a flaw), every time I listen to it, I am further convinced that it is the perfect conclusion.  I can’t really write any more about it because it will only ruin it for you.

            Honestly and sincerely, do yourself a favour and get this recording.  You can get it here from Kitson’s bandcamp page.  One can only hope that Kitson decides to release further recorded material some time in the future.  His stories are so emotionally truthful that it would be a shame for his unique take on our word to be confined to his lifetime.

Live Review - Soundwave Festival

2 March, 2012 – Melbourne Showgrounds

The annual metal/punk/hardcore festival known as Soundwave marched into Melbourne in early March to devastate the young and terrify the old.  It came to intimidate the cool, give the finger to the mainstream and piss on the trends…but wait?  Heavy music seems to be cool at the moment, be a part of the mainstream and is one of the latest trends for teenagers.  Hmmmm, things are very different than they used to be in my angry, teenage heyday.  Dudes with long hair and tattoos are everywhere, not just at gigs.  Band t-shirts are everywhere.  There are even girls at the shows!  That never happened!  It is certainly a conundrum indeed, but this is the position that heavy music is in at the moment.  The aggression and occasional silliness is now listened to, and participated in, by many and has spewed out into mainstream culture.  How else can you explain this festival selling out in minutes when Big Day Out didn’t sell out after four months of tickets being on sale?  This year proved to be one of the better Soundwaves too, with a line-up that was a little more for those who enjoyed heavy music the last time it was in the mainstream (around the mid-late 1990s).  Unlike BDO, the Soundwave organisers did an outstanding job of providing adequate shelter for patrons and the food was actually ok (not as much variety as BDO, but it was alright).  So, without further a due, here’s how my day panned out.

Times of Grace (USA):  Three fifths of Killswitch Engage (Jesse Leech, Adam Dutkiewicz and Joel Stroetzel) played what sounded a lot like Killswitch b-sides.  Given that Leech recently rejoined Killswitch as vocalist, this project now seems a little redundant.  Were they good?  They were ok.  Leech was good, but seemed a little grateful for being there rather than being in command of the stage (unlike former KsE vocalist Howard Jones who was hilarious and powerful live).  Adam D., was reduced to hobbling around the stage in a leg-brace for unknown reasons and the crowd seemed to be rather sluggish.  It was as if the crowd was there just to check things out and see how this project performed, rather than being genuinely interested.

Steel Panther (USA):  Absolutely hilarious!  This band lived up to all the hype and expectations.  I had been wary of them because, while it’s obvious they can play and write catchy songs, it’s hard to get any real legs out of a concept that is, essentially, parody music.  Having said that, they were very good live.  Their stage show is hilarious and every bit as ridiculous as they make it out to be in their music.  They were very fun, but I can’t see them lasting very long (what parody act has lasted apart from “Weird Al” Yankovic)?

Lostprophets (Wales):  This was one of those, “I loved that album” kind of bands.  A little after high school, I really dug Lostprophets Start Something (2004).  It was one of those albums I got right into, but then never pursued any of their music before or since and let them fade into memory.  The band started out well here and ripped through a few Start Something tracks before playing stuff that I didn’t know.  When I knew the songs, I got right into it and they were great.  When I didn’t know the songs, they were boring.

Hellyeah (USA):  It was great to see the legend, Vinnie Paul (Pantera, but do I really need to point that out?!), doing his thing behind the kit.  Hellyeah, though, are essentially an average band.  They’re a bit of a Frankenstein band being made up of two parts Mudvayne, two parts Damageplan, one part Nothingface, and one part Pantera, playing the kind of southern flavoured metal that Pantera pioneered.  But it lacks the aggression, originality and good tunes that made Pantera the incredible, game changing band that they were.  They also appear a bit sloppy live.  Vinnie’s solid as a rock, but the rest of the band, particularly vocalist, Chad Gray (Mudvayne), seems more concerned with playing the part of an alcohol swilling southerner (despite being from Illinois, a very northern state) than he does the part of a good, engaging, energetic vocalist.

Meshuggah (Sweden):  The band seemed to be much more energetic than they were the previous Wednesday…possibly because they didn’t play Lethargica.  The band are legends and always will be.  The crowd, interestingly enough, seemed to be more into this set too, than the crowd at The Forum two nights earlier.  All in all, it added up to a much more engaging Meshuggah show.

Coal Chamber (USA):  The reformed late ‘90s nu-metal also-rans, Coal Chamber, played their first shows since their 2003 break-up at this festival (interestingly, they haven’t played or announced any further shows as Coal Chamber since).  They were good.  I never really got into them, but their show certainly made me want to listen to their albums and watch Halloween (1978, the band used the film’s theme as intro music).  I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a once off though, particularly as it is so far removed from the extreme metal that vocalist, Dez Fafara, spends his time making now with DevilDriver.

In Flames (Sweden):  In Flames are always surprisingly good live.  They are energetic, they have an amazing sound and always seem genuinely fond of the crowd in front of them.  Personally, I’m more a fan of a certain era (2002’s Reroute To Remain: Fourteen Songs of Conscious Insanity through to 2006’s Come Clarity) of the band and so, when they played the stuff I liked, I loved it, when they played other stuff, I didn’t love it as much.  They were still great, but the majority of their set consisted of newer material, which is fair enough, they are promoting a new album after all.

Bad Religion (USA):  The punk legends had their set cut twenty-five minutes short due to a stage malfunction, which left a large steel rod balancing precariously above the audience.  No one was injured and festival organisers should be applauded for how quickly they dealt with the issue.  Huge Bad Religion fans were obviously disappointed, but the band couldn’t really do much.  Had they continued playing and the situation became worse, they’d be all over the papers for the wrong reasons.

Limp Bizkit (USA):  This was one of the acts I was looking forward to.  It was the much derided, hate inspiring Limp Bizkit’s first Melbourne show ever.  The last time the band were in Australia, their stay was cut short due to an incident during their set at Sydney’s 2001 Big Day Out which left one fan, sixteen year old Jessica Michalik, dead.  Limp Bizkit’s set on this tour had, therefore, become a tribute to Jessica Michalik and her family.  Front man, Fred Durst gave a moving speech about the loss of a fan and how there is no way they can ever change what happened as much as they would like to.  During this speech, the band’s backdrop was changed from a cartoon sketch of the band members, to a large pink sheet with the name, “Jessica” printed on it in large white letters decorated with love hearts and butterflies.  This banner remained for the rest of their set.  The actual performance was surprisingly good.  Having never been here before, the band only played one track from their latest album, Gold Cobra (2011), opting for a greatest hits setlist instead.  The crowd loved it as the band grooved through each number with the energy and tenacity that they were known for in their late 1990s heyday.  Hate them as much as you like, but Limp Bizkit groove like no other.

Dillinger Escape Plan (USA): This was, by far, the highlight of the day.  I don’t know why, but every time Dillinger Escape Plan come out, I’m always hesitant.  I always go, but there’s a part of me, for one reason or another, holding back.  Then I watch them play and almost always declare them the greatest live band on the planet right now.  First, let me say that their sound was terrible in the shed.  All bands always sound horrible in the shed.  I don’t know why they continue to make bands play in there.  But with Dillinger Escape Plan, it doesn’t matter.  You can never, ever underestimate the band’s ability to squeeze every single once of energy out of themselves.  Their live show is every bit as manic and insane as their music.  Let me give you a few examples.  As the band began to play, vocalist Greg Puciato, walked out onto the stage, straight down the middle, jumped straight down onto the crowd barrier and began the opening song Farewell, Mona Lisa in the crowd, passing the mic around and screaming in the faces of the die-hards who were right there, screaming along with him.  At another point, guitarist, Ben Weinman walked out onto the crowd while playing his guitar.  When I say walked out, he was stepping on people’s shoulders and the people were holding him up.  He did this for a little while before launching himself, guitar and all, down into the audience to crowd surf back to the stage…all while continuing to play.  Ladies and gentlemen, add Dillinger Escape Plan to your “Bands I Must See Before I Die” list now!

Slipknot (USA):  Slipknot are always great live and this was no different.  How can you not be great live when your band consists of nine lunatics dressed in demented monster masks and boiler suits while pyro is going off everywhere around you?  What was interesting was that the band appeared to play with their new/fill in bass player off stage.  I could be wrong, I didn’t have the best view, but it appeared that the band’s way of making a transition to an era without recently departed bassist, Paul Gray, was to have their new bass player (and former guitarist), Donnie Steele, play off stage.  It was an interesting move, but a totally understandable one given Gray’s untimely death last year.

The Devin Townsend Project (Canada):  The king of all nerds performed a set consisting mostly of his ‘Project’ material.  While this material isn’t his best work, he’s still an amazing performer.  The Ziltoid animations were hilarious and Townsend’s strange command of a crowd was as strong as ever.  He has one of the best voices in metal and continues to be metal’s mad genius.  Set closer, Bad Devil, from his 1998 album, Infinity, was a particular highlight.

Angels & Airwaves:  I chose to see these guys play because my other choices were System Of A Down, who I’ve seen before and am not really a fan of, and Machine Head, who are incredible live, but I’ve seen them a lot.  So, I opted to try something new.  I’m not really familiar with A&A’s music but they were fairly good live.  Had I known their music, I’m sure I would have enjoyed it more.  To the untuned ear, the songs all seemed to sound very similar and for the entirety of the performance, the band was backlit so you could not see their faces.  This may have been because of the “the message is bigger than us” mentality that the band seemed to have.  Having said that, I’d much rather listen to A&A than front man, Tom DeLonge’s other, better known band, Blink-182.

Album Review - Noctourniquet

Artist: The Mars Volta (USA)

Release Date: 23 March, 2012

I know it’s taken me a little while to write this one, but really, The Mars Volta isn’t any old band.  I find that you really need to be in the mood for them.  If you’re not in the right mind frame, they’ll probably give you a headache or a seizure.  But, if the mood does take you, they generally blow you away with their bombastic instrumental freak-outs and their weird, mystical lyrical subject matter.  There is no doubt that this band is like no other.  They are, at any given moment, progressive rock, abrasive punk, latin jazz, 1970s metal, ambient, beautiful and ugly.  Each release of theirs has contained something new for their listeners, and it’s because of this and The Mars Volta’s general complexity that I allowed this one to breathe a little while.  I wanted it to completely set in before I offered any opinion on it.  I have, in the past, changed my mind on their albums before.  Their third album, Amputechture (2006), didn’t do much for me.  I thought it was too long, too sprawling and needed the narrative glue that held their previous albums together.  Then I saw them play the Amputechture material live.  All of a sudden it made complete sense and now I love the album.  I don’t know what it was about experiencing that material live, but it certainly made it work for me in a way that it hadn’t before.  I write all of this because I want you to know how easy it is for me to change my ideas about any Mars Volta release.  Therefore, what follows below, is only my opinion at the time of writing this.  Who knows how it may change in the future.

            The first thing that struck me about this album was that it seemed to be an extension of their previous album, 2009’s Octahedron.  This album seems to be further exploring the more meditative side of The Mars Volta.  The songs are slower, shorter and there are fewer dramatic shifts in dynamics that has become the norm for their work.  Even where Octahedron had a few blasts of the old Mars Volta energy, Noctourniquet seems to be an exercise in restraint, albeit in a very Mars Volta way.  There are still odd time signatures, lyrics about strange beings that inhabit our planet with a few appearances by certain species of vermin that tend to make appearances in Mars Volta albums from time to time.  It could, perhaps justifiably, be said that Noctourniquet could have been named Octahedron II.  But, as with all things Mars Volta, it’s not quite that simple.

            What Noctourniquet does, more than any of The Mars Volta’s previous releases, is explore their electronic tendencies.  Where these flourishes have been present on their past albums, they were usually confined to the background.  They were used to colour the tracks and provide extra drama.  Essentially, you didn’t really take notice of them if you weren’t listening for them.  Here, though, these electronica moments are brought to the forefront.  On some tracks, they are now the driving force (taking over from Rodriguez-Lopez’s guitar), particularly on opening track, The Whip Hand.  The sound may be produced by guitar (as it is live), but there is no doubt that it leans more towards electronic music than it does traditional rock.  It is as though Mars Volta have placed this track first in order to make a specific statement.  They are at a point where their ‘different’ sound has become the norm for them.  They are, therefore, exploring new territory.  They are a band that has always looked ahead and have never repeated themselves.  They created a new style all on their own and now that fans have come to expect that style, they are changing it up.  It will be the point that fans will ultimately judge the album by.  Some want The Mars Volta to release nothing but De-Loused In The Comatorium (2003) and/or Frances The Mute (2005) copies.  Others will want The Mars Volta to continue pushing in a direction that is wholly their own, but maybe not this direction.  Some will love what they are doing will Noctourniquet.

            Another note about what makes this album different from anything the band has done before is the drumming.  For the first time I found myself having to listen for the drums in a Mars Volta release.  That’s not to say that the drums are criminally low in the mix or anything.  It’s just that, after the powerhouse styles of previous drummers, Jon Theodore (still the best drummer they’ve had in my opinion) and Thomas Pridgen, new skinsman, Deantoni Parks, displays a much more subtle technique.  There’s no doubt that he’s every bit as skilled (maybe even more so) than previous drummers, but he chooses not to be the focus here.  Perhaps this is because he has more of a background in jazz than the others.  By no means is this a bad thing, it’s just different.  Instead of having a thunderous fill punch you in the face (thank you Mr. Pridgen) or a beat appearing to be played with seventeen arms (thank you Mr. Theodore), we have subtle ghost notes, minimalistic patterns and intricate hi-hat work.  It will certainly be interesting to see how long Praks remains in the band, given their perceived rotating drummer policy, and what he does on future Mars Volta albums, particularly if the band decide to play loud again.

            Like Octahedron though, Noctourniquet’s star is vocalist, Cedric Bixler-Zavala.  His melodies often save the day on this album and make what could have been several bizarre noise pieces, delicate tracks with some humanity attached to them.  He still sings about stuff that only he can relate to, but he is the human link here.  To me, it seems as though Rodriguez-Lopez is now at a point where he’s putting music together for the specific purpose of challenging Bixler-Zavala.  It’s like he keeps throwing him tracks and saying, “Here you go, make this sound good.”  And for the most part, Bixler-Zavala succeeds.  There are moments on this album, with its electronic passages, that demonstrate that Massive Attack might want to tap Bixler-Zavala on the shoulder about being the latest addition to their ever expanding catalogue of guest vocalists (personally, I would love to hear it).

            I think the only real downfall of this album is its length.  Not in terms of time, but in terms of tracks.  At thirteen tracks, it is the longest Mars Volta album (Frances The Mute is actually their longest album in terms of time, but is the shortest in terms of tracks, it has five).  There is an argument that towards the end, things tend to drag on a bit, and for me, this is the case.  Had they culled two or three tracks, I think I would enjoy this album much more.  Things tend to become a bit same-y with tracks appearing to bleed into one another (particularly on the acoustic numbers), creating a plodding, limping-to-the-finish-line kind of vibe.  It’s a closing half that doesn’t really make me want to put it on again immediately.

            For me though, the highlight of the album is Noctourniquet’s centrepiece, In Absentia.  After five minutes of odd sounds and unusually (for this album) difficult to decipher vocals, the track opens right up into an outro that just might be one of the best things The Mars Volta have ever recorded.  Some may argue that the preceding five minutes are pointless, but to me, the outro wouldn’t have been as affective had it not had the build up and the, “What is going on here?” tone that the first section provides.  It is such a highlight though, that it makes much of what follows feel week.  As mentioned earlier, things go a little downhill from here and don’t quite recover.

            All in all, Noctourniquet is like any other Mars Volta album.  The die-hards will love it, the people who want another Deloused or Frances will hate it, some who want Mars Volta to continue to push boundaries might not like the specific boundaries the band is pushing here, and fans who are up and down with the band will love (or hate) it now only to change their opinion and hate (or love) it later.  And everyone else will wonder what all the noise is.

Live Review - Melbourne International Comedy Festival

28 March – 22 April, 2012

So here is my first foray into reviewing a non-musical format.  I’m not a connoisseur of stand-up comedy.  I generally go to one show per year (during the festival) and I don’t really own any stand-up DVDs apart from ones by Eddie Izzard and Bill Hicks.  The reason I say all this is that my opinion on the subject should probably not have serious attention paid to it.  But this year I happened to attend four shows during the festival, which I feel the need to write about, so I am.  So, feel free to read on if you like, but don’t be too hasty to tell me that I don’t know what I’m talking about (I already know, I told you).

Performer:  Stephen K Amos (UK)

Show: Laughter Is My Agenda

Details: Tuesday 10 April, 2012 – Melbourne Town Hall (Main Hall)

Stephen K Amos, from the beginning of his performance, made everything clear.  He named his show, Laughter Is My Agenda, because it was his job, in the hour that he had, to make us, the audience, laugh.  Even if he only got one laugh out of us, he had done his job.  While his brand of comedy is quite generic, the kind designed for mass appeal, it was a thoroughly enjoyable show.  I laughed; not at everything, but I laughed enough for me to tell people that he was good.  I think he could have done more with the idea of, “everyone has some kind of agenda”.  The idea seemed to be an excellent starting point, full of potential, but became a little muddled and eventually lost towards the end of the show.  I’m glad I saw the show.  Would I see him again?  Probably not, unless a bunch of friends are going and peer pressure gets the best of me.

Performer: Daniel Kitson (UK)

Show: Where Once Was Wonder

Details:  Thursday 12 April, 2012 – The Playhouse (Melbourne Arts Centre)

What can I say about Mr. Kitson other than that I believe him to be the best comedian in the world right now (maybe even my favourite comedian ever).  I have loved everything I have seen this man do.  Previously, I had only seen his storytelling shows, 66a Church Road: A Lament Made of Memories and Kept in Suitcases and The Interminable Suicide of Gregory Church.  These storytelling pieces are distinct from his stand-up work because they are much more akin to monologue theatre.  They are funny in parts, but the occasional comedic elements only serve the story, rather than the other way around.  So, it was with great anticipation that I came to see this show, Where Once Was Wonder, having only experienced his stand-up work through a couple of recordings and old television appearances (Kiston has no DVDs or albums of his work available).  The show was absolutely brilliant, not only have I never laughed so hard at a show, but I’ve also never been forced to question and think about my own thought processes like this show forced me to.  Over two hours (which, honestly, felt like half an hour) Kitson dissected and mused over how we position ourselves in the world and the silly way we go about defining ourselves and try to be distinct amongst a world of people trying to do the exact same thing.  He did this through three personal anecdotes, which, on occasion, did wander off into huge tangents.  These tangents though, were always totally relevant and always made a certain point that Kiston was trying to explore through his core story.  The structure of the show was astounding.  Kitson began by laying down some of his core beliefs, his thoughts about life and comedy and the personal world he inhabits.  As the show progressed, very subtly, cleverly disguised through each of his three core stories, Kitson methodically tore apart those core values he stated at the beginning and by the end of the show was championing the exact opposites of the thoughts he had so definitely stated earlier, highlighting the contradictory nature of us all, which is essentially the key theme of the show.  While all of this might sound like it’s a bit heavy for a stand-up comedy show, Kitson managed to deliver it in such a light-hearted, occasionally goofy, occasionally childish, occasionally moving manner that the jovial nature of the performance seemed to infect the crowd immediately.  And that is Kiston’s true genius.  Through all the laughter and silliness, he makes you think, even if you don’t know you are.  I can’t recommend his work highly enough.  In fact, get some of it now, here (the stand-up shows are quite old, not as daring, but still good, what you should be getting is The Ballad of Roger and Grace, a storytelling/music piece he did with musician and friend, Gavin Osborn, that is unbelievably funny and moving at the same time).

Performer: Tim Key (UK)

Show: Masterslut

Details: Sunday 15 April, 2012 – Fairfax Studio (Melbourne Arts Centre)

Ok, I’ll be honest.  I saw this because the title made me laugh and it intrigued me.  Then I did some research and found out that Key is an Edinburgh Comedy Award (formerly Perrier Award) winner, one of the most distinguished awards in live comedy.  I also found out that he’s one of the more revered comedians amongst comedians.  He seems to be one of those guys that all the comedians love, or are in awe of, but the general public (at least, here in Australia) haven’t quite cottoned on yet.  So how was he?  He was excellent!  His show isn’t pure stand-up.  There is a lot of poetry, some videos, some music, some interactive audience games, a bit of theatre, a bath and a whole heap of silliness.  Key’s humour is one of dry wordplay.  Often the audience will not laugh immediately at a joke until it sets in and registers.  It’s not the kind of in-your-face power and energy that most stand-up is.  It’s quieter, more ruminative, and some may argue that it’s more ‘arty’.  Masterslut does seem to have more in common with a theatre piece than it does stand-up, but it is an excellent show and had me laughing all the way through it.  He’s the kind of odd-bod comedian that I love.  Not to everyone’s taste, but I’ll be seeing him again if, and when, he comes back.

Performer: Claudia O’Doherty (Aus)

Show: The Telescope

Details: Friday 20 April, 2012 - Regent Room (Melbourne Town Hall)

This was another one that I saw because most comedians that I’ve seen have, in one way or another, said, “Go and see Claudia O’Doherty! She’s Brilliant!”.  And you know what?  She was!  This show was completely bizarre.  It’s impossible to describe.  It’s the kind of show that, in the wrong hands, would have completely fallen apart and turned into complete rubbish.  On several occasions, this show could have been a disaster.  But Claudia O’Doherty justified all the praise she has been receiving.  She is brilliant and best of all, different.  There’s a danger to her performance.  While I was watching The Telescope I couldn’t believe that someone had been audacious enough to try and make a show like this, but I was also completely stunned that she not only made it work, but made it work in a way that had me in stitches (to the point where the person I was with was nudging me because I may have been a touch too loud).  She’s the kind of performer that you hope becomes a huge success because scores of people should be seeing this show.  It’s forward thinking, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my limited live comedy experience, and it demonstrates that there are original ideas out there.  At the same time though, you get the feeling that she might be a little too far ahead for the general public, which is a shame.  She deserves to be seen.  She deserves success.  She is hilarious and I will definitely be seeing any future show she puts together.

Live Review - Bluesfest 2012

5-8 April, 2012 – Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm, Byron Bay (NSW)

Right, I’m going to try and make this brief.  I’ve got four days worth of live music to write about and I don’t want to go on and on like I usually do and write a novel for every single day that I was there.  While I’d love to bang on about everyone that I saw at the festival, you’d probably get very bored reading it.  So how, exactly, am I going to write this one up?  Well, I don’t know, I’m just going to write and see where it goes.

To begin with, I must say that Bluesfest is my favourite Australian music festival.  It is better organised, cleaner, friendlier and more relaxed than the other major festivals that I regularly attend (Big Day Out and Soundwave, the latter of which, I’m still yet to write up because I’m lazy).  The crowd is generally older than those other two festivals, which creates the more relaxed vibe.  There are very few teenagers running around who don’t quite have the hang of crowd etiquette yet, spoiling a perfectly good set by yelling about how drunk they are at the top of their lungs and pushing undeserving people out of the way just so they can watch five minutes of a performer before heading off to ruin someone else’s day.  The food at Bluesfest is also outstanding.  Sure, it’s still festival food, but there’s vegetarian, Jamaican, Brazillian, noodles, Mexican, burgers, German sausages, calamari, curry houses and a whole range of good quality food to cater for all (a particular favourite has been Cajun fries, which involves fries being doused in lime mayo and Cajun seasoning).  The toilets are also cleaner; they are regularly cleaned by a dedicated roaming army dubbed “The Poo Crew”.  The weather, this year, was also spectacular with roughly 26˚C (79˚F) and sunshine every day.  All in all, it’s just a brilliant festival that is far superior to its annual, touring counterparts.

So, on with the music.  What I’ve decided to do is break this down into days.  The festival ran for five days, but I only attended four so I will only be writing about them.  I’ll give a list of the performers I saw on the day and write only about the particular highlights or things that are worth mentioning.  Just because I don’t write about an artist doesn’t mean I think they were rubbish, it just means that other things on the day, deserved more attention in my view.  So let’s get stuck in.

Day One: Bobby Alu, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, My Morning Jacket, Cold Chisel, Benjalu

Highlight: My Morning Jacket and that guy wearing the bright purple shirt that said on it, in a large, white font, “START WEARING PURPLE”

Day one of Bluesfest is traditionally slower and more easy going than the rest of the festival.  It’s only a half-day, beginning at 4pm whereas the other days begin at midday.  There are also, on average, far fewer people in attendance on this day.  Most people opt for the three-day, Friday/Saturday/Sunday ticket.  My day began with the calm island grooves of local boy, Bobby Alu.  His ukulele driven music was a nice start to my festival experience.  He’s fairly typical of the local music that appears at Bluesfest; non-confrontational, well played, mostly forgettable, but nice at the time music.  Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue were great as usual.  They groove on stage like few others and suck their audience in with their brass laced funk/soul tunes.  They’re the kind of band who is great live, but I wouldn’t listen to them on record.  My Morning Jacket were easily the highlight of the day.  Their brand of psychedelic ‘70s influenced rock was outstanding live.  Vocalist, Jim James, roamed the stage like a huge bear with his curly locks and ginormous beard, captivating what seemed like an initially sceptical audience.  This band doesn’t have much of a profile here in Australia, but after this tour, tickets might be hard to come by the next time around.  Cold Chisel were, well, Cold Chisel.  They’re a good, solid rock band.  They’re not entirely my cup of tea, but there were plenty of mullet sporting, cigarette smoking, Jim Beam drinking fifty year olds rocking out to suggest that ‘Chisel’ were delivering on every front to their core fanbase.  I just though they were ok.

Day Two: Mat McHugh, Bobby Alu, G3 (Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Steve Lukather), Steve Earle, James Vincent McMorrow, Jonny Lang, Buddy Guy, The Specials

Highlight: Steve Earle

The day began with a solo set from The Beautiful Girls frontman, Mat McHugh.  His Jack Johnson-esque songs were, like Bobby Alu, completely nice.  He did have a few moments that suggested that there is something more there though.  He’s one that might be worth checking out.  G3 was simply hilarious.  I find this kind of music totally unnecessary.  There’s no point to it other than to show off.  It’s just a bunch of cool tricks some dudes can do.  It’s emotionless and totally irrelevant, kind of like a half decent clown show.  The big downside to G3 was their volume.  Poor old Irish singer/songwriter, James Vincent McMorrow, was almost drowned out by the cacophonous guitar noise emanating from the main stage (which was over 300m away).  McMorrow, though, is something special.  He’s got a lot of Bon Iver in him with a touch of City & Colour and the folk stylings of his native Ireland.  What that adds up to is some stunning, heartbreaking music.  Oh, and his completely stripped back cover of Midlake’s Roscoe is brilliant.  Buddy Guy did what Buddy Guy does best.  He delivered some outstanding blues and humoured the crowd with his cheeky nature.  The crowd lapped it up, as they did two years ago when I first saw him at Bluesfest 2010.  Ska legends, The Specials, wowed their fans, but seemed to lack the energy they were known for (or at least the energy that I had been led to believe they had).  They weren’t bad by any stretch; I just think the hype might have been a bit bigger than the reality.  The highlight of the day was the one and only Steve Earle.  Playing by himself with his guitar, bouzouki or his mandolin, Earle had the audience in the palm of his hand for the entirety of his set.  His folk/country protest songs are of the kind that made Bob Dylan a legend.  Earle is one songwriter who has his head on right and continues to push the causes he believes in.  He doesn’t rest on his laurels knowing that he’ll have a captive audience anywhere he goes.  He continues to educate his audience through music and storytelling like few others can.

Day Three: Keb Mo, Vusi Mahlasela, Yann Tiersen, James Vincent McMorrow, Seasick Steve (featuring John Paul Jones), Justin Townes Earle, Ziggy Marley, Brian Setzer’s Rockabilly Riot, John Fogerty

Highlight:  John Fogerty

Ok, I need to wrap this up fairly quickly because it’s already longer than I wanted it to be.  Justin Townes Earle was brilliant.  His country music is full of heartbreak and folk stories like the best country music should be.  Since this performance I have bought all four of his albums and his EP and have been listening to them non-stop ever since.  To me, he shares a certain unique distinction with Jakob Dylan.  Both are the sons of music legends (Jakob Dylan calls Bob Dylan ‘Dad’, just as Justin Townes Earle is the son of the aforementioned Steve Earle), but I prefer the music of the younger generation much more than I do that of the older folk music stalwarts.  I can’t recommend Justin Townes Earle’s music enough if you’re into alternative country/folk/blues/bluegrass in any way, shape or form.  John Fogerty was the big drawcard for this festival.  For the first time since the break-up of Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1972, John Fogerty was playing a set that would consist almost entirely of CCR songs.  It was a chance to see a legend who was part of the mass culture movement that occurred during the late 1960s in the U.S. performing the songs that helped to define that generation.  I don’t think I’d be wrong if I stated that nearly everyone knows at least one Creedence song, regardless of whether they know it’s Creedence or not.  All I can say is that Fogerty delivered on all fronts and met almost all expectations.  He began with playing the classic 1970 album Cosmo’s Factory from start to finish (home to classic Creedence tracks, Lookin’ Out My Back Door, Run Through The Jungle, Up Around The Bend, Who’ll Stop The Rain and their cover of Marvin Gaye’s classic I Heard It Through The Grapevine).  From there, Fogerty ploughed through what was pretty much a CCR greatest hits set.  The only minor complaint that anyone could have had about the it was that the three Fogerty solo tunes as well as the cover of Roy Orbison’s Oh, Pretty Woman could have been easily replaced by other Creedence classics that missed out on an airing; such as Green River, Wrote A Song For Everyone, Born On The Bayou, Bootleg, or their cover of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ I Put A Spell On You.  Obviously though, the privilege of seeing and hearing Fogerty play Creedence tunes outweighed my minor gripes with the setlist choices.

Day Four:  Angelique Kidjo, Bettye LaVette, The Audreys, Maceo Parker, Candi Staton, Josh Pyke, Melbourne Ska Orchestra, The Pogues

Highlight: The Pogues

Angelique Kidjo deserves a special mention here for managing to get 30 audience members on stage to dance with her and her band for twenty minutes (which included a dance off between the various people on stage).  It was typical of what I’ve seen from African performers over the years.  They seem to have a love for life and express that love through music and dance better than any other culture that I can think of.  The biggest regret of this year’s festival was that I could only see twenty minutes of Josh Pyke’s one-hour set.  I’ve never seen him play before, but what I saw, was outstanding and has me obsessively keeping an eye out for tour dates.  The reason I only caught some of his set is that it clashed with the outstanding Melbourne Ska Orchestra.  I’ve written about MSO before and my opinion on them is pretty clear.  I do think though, with their increasing popularity, they need to start switching things up a little bit.  They tend to play the same set every time which can be a problem for a group who prides itself on being a living, breathing catalogue of early 1960s Jamaican ska.  The band of the day would have to have been The Pogues.  These Irish folk punk rockers were one of the acts I was really looking forward to seeing.  The band hasn’t played on Australian soil since 1989 and it was pretty clear that there were many people in the crowd who were dying to see these guys play…and play they did.  The Pogues smashed through a ninety minute set with an energy rarely displayed by a band full of men in their mid-to-late 50s.  They played pretty much everything a Pogues fan would want to hear.  Put simply, they were truly awesome.  Even though Shane McGowan’s brain seems to have been completely fried by his alcoholism, he still delivered the vocal goods.  The set concluded in typical Pogues fashion with McGowan and Spider Stacy smashing beer trays over their heads until they were totally misshapen before flinging them into the crowd as a unique souvenir for two lucky Pogues fans.

In comparison with other Bluesfests, this one was probably the weakest one I had been to (having attended the previous two).  While it was still worth every cent in terms of quality music and performances, it lacked the very special moments provided by Mavis Staples, The Blind Boys of Alabama and Tedeschi Trucks Band in 2011.  Although it is foolish to assume that there will be something truly outstanding every Bluesfest, after such an incredible 2011, it was difficult not to believe that this Bluesfest wouldn’t be as good.  But still, I had an amazing time and will likely be returning again next year.

Overall Highlights

The Pogues

John Fogerty

Justin Townes Earle

My Morning Jacket

Discovery of the Festival

Justin Townes Earle