Man, this is the week of new record announcements. First BRMC, now Shout Out Louds, both bands being big enough to make me come out of my self-imposed blogging hiatus and spread the good word. We just received an update that Sweden’s finest export since the 15 Meatball Combo at Ikea (Which I tried today for the first time), have announced a new record, ‘Work’, to be released on February 23, 2010. I’ll also mention that it is being produced by Phil Ek (The Shins, Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses), but not sure if that makes a huge difference. Maybe you will be able to tell when you have a look/listen to their new tune ‘Walls’ below.
As for tour news, the band will be playing a special album-release show in NYC on March 1st and will be touring for most of 2010. We’ll keep you posted when dates get announced.
Swedish solo sensation (and Panic Manual favorite) Jens Lekman rolled into town last Sunday to what I had hoped, make up for a disappointing start to a weekend of concerts from a couple of my indie pop faves.
Researching the gig beforehand I read that comedienne Tig Notaro would be opening the show, unusual for an indie act, but it did seem fitting given Jens quirky nature. We arrived early enough in the hope of catching Tig’s act but instead were introduced to what looked like a frat boy wearing white jeans rolled up to his shins playing an acoustic guitar. I can’t say much about how he sounds because every song sounded the same if you’re just playing a guitar and it’s nearly impossible to vocally compete with all the audience chatter.
Jens and the crew hit the stage just before ten, all wearing red and white in varying outfits and matching key necklaces. Despite not having all the instruments one would expect to hear he did compensate with a added synth and electro beats via laptop, a small issue for some perhaps but with his songs so intricately woven together, the use of a laptop to compensate for missing instruments was essential.
After a polite greeting and a “naïve request” requesting the audience not to post any video of their performance online, Jens and Co. kicked into ‘I’m Leaving You Because I Don’t Love You’ and from the first strum he had the audience in the palm of his hands. The rest of the set consisted of mostly songs from his latest effort Night Falls Over Kortedala with Jens encouraging the fans to hum the melody for ‘Kanske Ar Jag Kar I Dig’ to the entire band breaking out into sweeping airplane like motions and circling the stage during ‘Sipping on the Sweet Nectar of your Memory’. Not surprisingly the crowd favorite was ‘A Post Card to Nina’, a perfect example of Jens does best, tell stories. His spoken word monologue in between each verse gave the audience a little more context to this quirky tune about a lesbian presenting Mr. Lekman as her fiance to her parents. The evening ended with 2 encores, the first and perhaps the song most fans are familiar with ‘Sweet Summer Night On Hammer Hill’ after which he introduced the members of the band, two of which were Gary Olson and Julia Rydholm The Ladybug Transistor.
The set ended just after 11 after a quick 12 song set and the crowd although audibly disappointed the show was over, gave a resounding ovation to which Jens promised to return later in the evening to have a chat with anyone who wished to stay. Needless to say my heart was going Bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp after perhaps one of the most entertaining shows I’ve attended in a long time.
Setlist
I’m leaving you because I don’t love you The opposite of Hallejuah Black Cab Your arms around me Kanske ar jag kar i dig The end of the world is bigger than love Postcard to nina Maple leaves Into eternity Sipping ok sweet nectar of your memory
Encore#1 – Sweet summer night on hammer hill Encore#2 – Sylvia
Special thanks to Gina for providing photo’s from the show. Check out a few more at rocksellout.com
Vancouver – With the recent heatwave Vancouver has been experiencing, it would seem fitting to have a band like Camera Obscura adding to it with their warm pop sounds but their performance on Friday night was enough to to have any twee fan cower deep within their anoraks only to peep out occasionally to see if it was all over.
The show kicked off with Sacramento trio Agent Ribbons and they managed to keep the crowd entertained throughout the entire set with their power-folk-cabaret sounds complete with vintage costumes and prancing tambourine player in a masquerade mask. A bit too dark for my taste but an enjoyable performance nonetheless.
Camera Obscura finally hit the stage a little after 10 to resounding applause from the near capacity crowd, and with a brief acknowledgment they kicked off the show with a track from their latest album ‘My Maudlin Career’. The rest of the set consisted of all the favorites from their 3 album back catalogue but as the show progressed it felt like the band was just going through the motions and nothing annoys me more than bands that put on disinterested performances.
I’ve been to enough concerts in my time to know when a band is or isn’t enjoying performing live and Camera Obscura’s performance on Friday night was perhaps one of the more irritating shows I’ve attended in a long time. One could blame the old stigma that Canadian’s aren’t the most lively concert attendees but I’ve always believed that it’s up to the band performing to do what they can to keep the crowd engaged. This definitely was not the case on Friday night. Everyone at the show seemed to be enjoying themselves with loud cheers after each song and the odd dancer closer to the stage. Fairly typical. CO did nothing to encourage the rest of us to clap or sing along and during one track closer to the end of the set, Traceyanne had the gall to take a seat and pan the crowd with a solemn look on her face. I can understand that bands have a unforgiving touring schedule and may not be always on their a-game for every show, but I and every punter in the crowd expect that they at least make an effort.
Hey Camera Obscura, I like you. I’ll still buy all your albums, recommend you to friends and play your songs till no end during sunny (and rainy) days but I think you should take a step back and take a look at how your elders Belle and Sebastian approach live performances. They’ve been around for much longer and always go out of their way to put on a fantastic gig with zero pretension. I’m just sayin’….
Here’s the setlist I had created on the fly during the show. I didn’t remember the names from all the tracks played and was going to go back and listen and add them but I think I’ll put the same amount of effort as CO did and just leave it as is. Enjoy!
#1- new album (intro track?) #2 – new album #3 – teenager #4 – just can’t see 2nd album #5 – James #6 – new album mellow # 7- French Navy #8 – new album I’m going date tonight #9 – new album ??? #10 – eighties fan #11 – songs written for girls #12 – looks could kill
Encore
Lloyd I’m ready to be heartbroken Razzle dazzle rose
Perhaps in response to Rickys calling out of Swedish bands The Radio Dept have returned (albeit briefly) with an announcement of an upcoming single release titled David and a bit of album news. The announcement was made on Labrador records news page with an almost sarcastic sounding title: “The Radio Dept have finished a single”. The post is also accompanied with some info on how the album is coming along.
FAQ When will the new album be out? - We’ll set a release date as soon as the band has finished it and promise to keep you updated.
and a note from Johan at Labrador…
The Radio Department’s last year and a half has been a lot about delays and expectations. If I got a penny every time someone asked me when is the new Radio Dept. album coming out? I would have been a very rich man today. And to be honest I don’t know what they’ve been up to since they called me up in the fall of 2007, four hours before the scheduled mastering, to tell me the album wasn’t finished… but that’s ok. I’ve gradually come to understand that these things take time.
As for the single, what has become more relevant in recent releases is that TRD’s strengths lies more in musical composition and arrangements as opposed to lyrics. David begins with the usual electro beats but closer to the end it exits in a groovy harp-xylophone-synthpiano shuffle. While it’s nice to see the lads are adding a few new ingredients to the dish but I’m not too sure if it’s yet worthy of 3 Michelin Stars just yet (this was best analogy I was able to come up with).
Tracklisting 1. David 2. Messy enough 3. David (Rice Twins remix) 4. The idle urban contemporaries
All MP3s posted are just samples. Go buy the CD if you like it. The MP3s will be up for a duration of two weeks. If you are a representative of the band and wish to have the mp3 removed, please email us here.
