Recently, Alela Diane did a few songs for the always fanstastic Take Away Shows by La Blogotheque. They are very, very good. The video for The Rifle is full of great little moments including a cute kid strumming a guitar and Alela’s little laugh as people walk up the stairs she’s performing on.

I see people who could use a dummy in their mouth at every show I go to. You can download and/or watch two more songs here.

Download
Alela Diane – The Rifle (mp3 not video)

Thanks to these fellow Alela fans for the heads up.

Last night Andrew Bird brought the Armchair Apocrypha campaign to an end in Sydney. His fifth show in the city in three weeks (and second night in a row at The Vanguard), Mr. Bird seemed very appreciative of his experiences in Australia. Unlike his shows at the Spiegeltent, Andrew was without his band (which disappointed me a touch) so it was just one man, one violin, one guitar, and some technology.

Saying early on that he felt “a little spontaneous” Andrew’s show would feature some pretty obscure songs that would please the hardcore, but, sadly, on the whole the show left me just a tad underwhelmed. While his performances were pretty much without fault, the show seemed to lack flow. But really, this is a minor quibble and, to be fair, I’d seen Arcade Fire (x2), Bjork and Joanna Newsom all in the previous few days so my “Entertain Me” levels were on Ridiculous Level.

The obscure songs included The Confession (which Andrew said he had not played in a decade), Sectionate City (off his new EP) and a new song Anonanimal. Andrew also found the time to cover a couple tunes including the old blues standard Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning and Tin Foil by the Handsome Family.

A beautiful rendition of Spare-Ohs featured Holly Throsby on backing vocals while Darren Hanlon popped out to play guitar on Tables and Chairs which was a perfect way to end the main set. A short encore was capped off by Weather Systems, which I thought was on odd way to end the set, but I really love that song so I definitely left happy, but not as happy as his show last year. But like I said, dude followed some pretty heavy company this week and I will never refute the claim that Andrew Bird is a genius.

Setlist
Intro
Action/Adventure
Why?
Measuring Cups
The Confession
Scythian Empires
A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left
Sectionate City
Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning
Spare-Ohs*
Anonanimal
Plasticities
Tables and Chairs**
——
Tin Foil***
Weather Systems

* with Holly Throsby
** with Darren Hanlon
*** with Holly and Darren

Download (both from this show)
Andrew Bird – Spare-Ohs (live)
Andrew Bird – Tables and Chairs (live)

The major bonus of the night was my fellow countryman Joel Plaskett in support mode. It’s the second time I’ve seen him since moving to Sydney (never saw him before I left!) and his tunes evoke so much Canada that I was smiling through most of this set. The prairies! The CBC! New Brunswick! Like Andrew Bird, Joel was in solo mode and he pulled much of his set from La De Da which was welcome if slightly surprising as that record’s a bit old now. But opening up with I Love This Town was perfect…damn right Kelowna sucks! A very enjoyable set…but man he talked a lot!

Wayne was there too…and yet again, we did not meet. You are a phantom.

I’m going to vent a bit about the venue now. I know it’s a great little room, but if you’re not at a table, it kinda sucks. The sight lines from the balcony (unless you are in row 1 or 2) are the worst in any venue I’ve ever been to and I left the place with a sore neck. As Maria pointed out, it’s pretty hard to justify $50 to sit on a kitchen chair and stare at the back of the head in front of you.

Added bonus to the evening. I met Richie Cuthbert on the street after the gig. King Street. In Newtown! La la la la la la. They’ve got a Hoey residency on in February. Go check ‘em out.

Since all my photos would have had someone else’s head in them, I stole the one above from this place. Cheers.

If you were at the first Arcade Fire show at the Enmore (Jan. 22) and want to relive it (though the sound is a bit rough) just click here.

Thanks to the Us Kids Know forum guy for recording and sharing.

UPDATE
This actually sounds pretty damn good. Get it!

After Big Day Out yesterday, I’m not sure I could have found a more polar opposite musical experience tonight than Joanna Newsom at the Opera House with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Yesterday = Gong Show
Today = Class

The show tonight was divided into two parts. The first portion of the evening saw Joanna Newsom and her two piece touring band (who were subtly great in their own right) accompanied by the Sydney Symphony for a complete performance of her 2006 album Ys. Needless to say this was a completely different performance from her intimate show last year at the Spiegeltent. Tonight her songs were presented as they were meant to be heard, with a full orchestra adding all the grand flourishes to her narratives.

Emily and Only Skin were the highlights of the first set. Only Skin, all 16 mintues of it, is a symphony in its own right and to hear it live with all the strings and brass was absolutely amazing. There were a couple moments, however, when Joanna’s voice seemed to be battling the orchestra behind her; I think I noticed this once or twice during Monkey & Bear. These were just tiny moments though. I consider myself lucky just to have been able to see one of these orcehstra shows.

After an interval Joanna returned with her band (sans orcehstra) to play “some old songs and some new songs.” The opening notes of Bridges and Balloons received applause from the gracious crowd and the second portion of the show was underway. The two-piece band added wonderful touches to her songs throughout; the drums (really just a couple bass drums and cymbals) were used particularly well as they added some punch to the songs.

Colleen, from last year’s “live” EP, was perhaps my favourite song of the night. It seems to be a perfect marriage of Joanna’s voice, her harp, and the accompaniment of her band. Joanna’s little yelps were spot on. The set also featured a couple new songs, one of which is “brand, brand new.” I don’t know what it’s called but it features perhaps one of Joanna’s finest vocals yet. The other new song, Esame, which closed the main set has been floating around the net a while so it’s not quite as new, but it is another stunner. The two new ones seem to bridge the gap between the epic narratives of Ys with the more concise songwriting of Milk-Eyed Mender. I cannot wait for her next record (anyone know if she plans to record with her band?).

A two song encore followed, featuring a solo version of Sadie while her band joined her for one of my favourites, Inflammatory Writ. It was a great way to end the night and the crowd responded with a standing ovation as Joanna left the stage. It was just such an enjoyable evening. I get a kick out of Joanna’s big smile when she finishes a song…as if all the applause is a surprise. It was the Anti-Big Day Out and I loved every minute of it.

Setlist

Emily
Monkey & Bear
Sawdust & Diamonds*
Only Skin
Cosmia
——
Bridges and Balloons
The Book of Right-On
Colleen
Peach, Plum, Pear
Ribbon Bows
Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie
Esme*
——
Sadie*
Inflammatory Writ

*Joanna Newsom solo

Download
Joanna Newsom – Esame (live in Brazil)

Now due to some sort of Ticketek cock-up (selling tickets for non-existent seats), we didn’t have seats! So apologies to the two rows where the ushers were moving us around before and after Emily. And thanks to the Opera House staff for taking care of us. And thanks to Arcade Fire and The National for not using all your +1s as we took two of them I think (we sat just a couple seats from Richard Reed Parry and one of The Nationals). Win, Regine, Andrew Bird, some girl called Bjork and other assorted musicians were also spotted…it was a great way to pass the interval. But Adam, that was NOT Zach de la Rocha.

And Sarah Blasko, stop following us around.

And I just saw Wayne has a review of the first night. Pretty similar evenings it would seem. Joanna even caught us up tonight on the Barack Obama comments from the previous night’s gig.

What an awful festival. Bjork’s absence was felt muchly in our household.

But these three bands all kicked ass. Point form notes. What they played.

Spoon
- the most consistent band on earth (both live and on record)
- horn section = very cool
- Britt Daniel losing it with security = priceless (he called one guy an asshole AND a dipshit)
- followed the worst band on Earth, Enter Shikari

Setlist
The Beast And Dragon, Adored / Small Stakes / Stay Don’t Go* / The Underdog* / The Ghost of You Lingers / Don’t You Evah / I Summon You / My Mathematical Mind / You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb* / Jonathon Fisk* / The Way We Get By

* featured a horn section

Arcade Fire
- the best live band on Earth, even in a festival setting
- not nearly as special as the first Enmore show
- Regine all over the place tonight
- Will jumped off stage and ran into the crowd. Like WAY into it.
- ended with an accapella coda to Rebellion (Lies)…beautiful
- Win sang a couple lines of Bjork’s Declare Independence after Tunnels
- Was it just me or did they have more time when they finished?
- I want to be in this band

Setlist
Wake Up / Keep The Car Running / No Cars Go / Haiti / Laika / Intervention / Ocean Of Noise / Tunnels / The Well and the Lighthouse / (Antichrist Television Blues) / Power Out / Rebellion (Lies)

LCD Soundsystem
- James Murphy is fucking rad. RAD.
- All My Friends somehow managed to be better live
- Seriously
- Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
- No Someone Great was the only let down
- Although Losing My Edge and Get Innocuous would have been cool
- Kick ass live band
- Arcade Fire members helped out on a couple songs

Setlist
Us v. Them / Daft Punk Is Playing At My House / Time To Get Away / North American Scum / All My Friends / Tribulations / Movement / Yeah / New York I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down

Here’s the last 90 seconds of All My Friends. Awesomeness.

My photos from Big Day Out 2008 here.

Loser of the Day Award goes to the guy with the following written in black marker on the back of his shirt:

I’ve Been
Reincarnated
As
Heath Ledger

Someone doesn’t grasp the concept of reincarnation.

I was going to rant and rave about the D-Barrier Entrance fiasco and the awful people in attendance. But I won’t. I will just never attend Big Day Out again. Unless Radiohead play….but even then….I don’t know.

SUCKS

She is sick apparently. This really blows as she is one of 4 artists I was planning on seeing tomorrow. Of course we wish her a speedy recovery for the remaining BDO dates around the country.

Hit the BDO website for all the updated timetable info as well as refund info.

I’d been waiting seven or eight years to see Bjork and tonight, finally, I got my chance. Thankfully, she delivered what I had hoped she would. Unfortunately, I saw Arcade Fire last night. A nearly impossible act to follow.

When Bjork marched on stage to the crazy beats of Earth Intruders I almost couldn’t believe I was actually seeing her. At first I was taken aback by how small she was on stage, surrounded by a huge brass section as well as four gentlemen who spent the night tweaking out the weird sounds of Bjork’s music. But what she lacked in size she made up for in enthusiasm as she prowled and pranced on stage all night.

After Earth Intruders (complete with massive flames!) she belted out three straight from Homogenic. Awesome? Yes. Hunter was fantastic and ended with Bjork shooting string (or something) from her hands. Unravel followed and it is perhaps my favourite Bjork song so hearing that was pretty special. Her voice was pitch perfect (in fact she hit every note all night, it was nuts) and the performance, complete with the brass section doubling as a choir, was stunning. Joga came next and that’s when the lasers made their first appearance. Looking back up at the Opera House and the full moon overheard with green lasers everywhere was definitely a sight to behold.

Medulla got the next little run with Who Is It and Pleasure Is All Mine showcasing Bjork’s vocal gymnastics. Vespertine was only represented by Pagan Poetry but it was one of the set’s high points, particularly when Bjork hushed the crowd with her chant of “I love him, I love him.”

The second half of the set was just as amazing. Army of Me was immense and it was followed by I Miss You which sounded great with such a huge horn section. After Unravel my favourite moment of the night came when Bjork performed Cover Me with just her keyboardist. We were on the rail right in front of her as she acted out the song…it was almost childlike in its execution. The look on her face was priceless.

The main set ended with Hyperballad, which featured a stomping finale, and Pluto which continued where Hyperballad left off. It was a great way to end the set as the beginning of the show was a bit more quiet and subdued. When Bjork returned to the stage she introduced Oceania as the song “we sang at the Olympics in Greece.” I thought it was on odd choice for an encore song but she sang it beautifully. Then the band kicked into Declare Independence, the final song of the night, which featured confetti being blasted all over the place. The song built and built into a mess of beats and samples and when it ended Bjork thanked the crowd and vanished back into whatever world she inhabits.

So years of waiting…and Bjork delivered. Finally.

Setlist
01. Intro – Brennið Þið Vitar
02. Earth Intruders
03. Hunter
04. Unravel
05. Jóga
06. Who Is It
07. The Pleasure Is All Mine
08. Pagan Poetry
09. Desired Constellation
10. Army Of Me
11. I Miss You
12. Bachelorette
13. Cover Me
14. Wanderlust
15. Hyperballad
16. Pluto
——
17. Oceania
18. Declare Independence

There was a hella strict no camera policy so I only stole that one photo. Sorry Bjork, forgive me.

When I wasn’t transfixed by Bjork I loved watching the plasma screens onstage to see one of the band members playing around on some amazing techy stuff, including a Reactable. That thing is nuts and I want one.

I do believe the Arcade Fire just absolutely destroyed Sydney tonight. How amazing was that?

I’ve seen Arcade Fire a couple times back home in the PNW so I had ridiculously high expectations for tonight’s gig at the Enmore. I knew what was coming. I knew that the Arcade Fire are one of the best live bands around right now. And yet they still blew me away…in fact, I think I had forgotten just how bloody awesome they are live.

When the opening chords of Wake Up reverberated through the theatre I was embarrassingly excited. It was clear from the earliest moments of the gig that the band were in good spirits and that before the night was through they were going to pour themselves out on stage. And they did.

Keep The Car Running was the song I was most looking forward to this time around and when it followed Wake Up I was worried the band would peak too early, but the show just continually built towards its triumphant finale. When the band did slow down for a few moments they showed they can pull off delicate just as easily as bombast. Neon Bible, for instance, was plucked quietly by Win as his wife Regine gently tapped out the rhythm on electronic drum pads. When the song ended Win quickly began an impromptu take of New Order’s Age of Consent. This has been covered quite a bit by the band previously, but tonight’s version was a more acoustic take. I loved it.

The band were in great spirits all night. Win commented that the band were very appreciative of their first proper Australian audience and that they’d be here more often if we weren’t so far away. They even played Headlights Look Like Diamonds from their first EP as a way of catching up the Aussie audience. I love it when bands pay attention to stuff like that.

The highest highs of the night though came from the Funeral tracks. Haiti is a totally different song live and Tunnels was turned into a massive sing along. The main set then closed with a massive, heavy version of Power Out and Rebellion. The crowd was screaming along to every word and when the band left the stage the crowd immediately roared for an encore.

And the band, of course, obliged with Intervention and Laika. Laika was a great way to end the night as Will and Richard spent most of the song beating the shit out of each other with drum sticks. As the band waved goodnight, dripping with sweat, I really don’t think I could have asked for anything more.

What a gig. Easily one of the best shows I’ve seen since living here…if not the best. (I’ve had to delete the expletives from this or it would have just looked been a lot of “fucking amazing” and “fucking awesome.”)

Setlist (January 22, 2008)
Wake Up
Keep The Car Running
Black Mirror
No Cars Go
Haiti
Black Wave/Bad Vibrations
Neon Bible
Age of Consent
Ocean of Noise
Tunnels
The Well and the Lighthouse
Headlights Look Like Diamonds
(Antichrist Television Blues)
Power Out
Rebellion (Lies)
——
Intervention
Laika

I’ve put some photos up on Flickr. Amanda has some amazing shots, but she’s only put up a few so far.

When does a side project cease to be a side project? At this point, I think it’s fair to say that A Silver Mt. Zion never really were a Godspeed You! Black Emperor side project. And now, with another new record on the horizon, the numbers certainly don’t add up to side project:

GY!BE: 3 albums (I guess you could argue 4); 1 EP
ASMZ: 5 albums; 1 EP

Over the past seven years I’ve certainly been guilty of slighting ASMZ and instead focusing most of my Constellation hopes and dreams on some sort of Godspeed “reunion.” While that may indeed still happen, with the upcoming (March 25) release of the new ASMZ record, 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons, I find myself going back through the band’s catalogue and, for perhaps the first time, listening to them without the giant Godspeed shadow hanging over the music. It’s incredibly refreshing.

That’s not to say I haven’t enjoyed the band’s music in the past. I have. Very much in fact. Punk Rock was one of my favourite records of 2003. But there’s something different about the way I’m hearing the band now, and I love it.

13 Blues for Thirteen Moons has, of course, leaked but I’d much rather share a live version of the record than the album itself (which you can buy here; I should point out to the Aussies that you can order their albums from them for only $15 USD including shipping). All of the new record has been played live over the past couple years, and since the band allows taping, you can check out a bunch of shows here. The following mp3s come from a show in Belgium last April.

Download
A Silver Mt. Zion – 1,000,000 Died To Make This Sound
A Silver Mt. Zion – 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons
A Silver Mt. Zion – Engine Broke
A Silver Mt. Zion – Blindblindblind

And Concert Insanity Week is upon us. Despite seeing them in June, I would love to be at The National tonight…but there was just too much on! Arcade Fire tomorrow, Bjork Wednesday, Big Day Out Friday, Joanna Newsom Saturday and Andrew Bird Monday…I think I’ll manage to see something decent.

Because the Australian touring agencies didn’t think the indie kids had enough shows to see between now and mid-March they’ve decided to bring Cat Power around for a tour in March. The Sydney date is on March 9 at the Enmore Theatre. Complete dates:

03-07 Cairns, Australia – Tanks Arts Centre
03-08 Brisbane, Australia – The Tivoli
03-09 Sydney, Australia – Enmore Theatre
03-10 Adelaide, Australia – The Gov
03-12 Castlemaine, Australia – Theatre Royal
03-13 Melbourne, Australia – The Forum

Tickets through Ticketek and they’ll be on sale Monday morning. Word of warning for those planning on hitting the Sydney show: the seating arrangement for the Enmore will have seats in the front section with a standing section behind. Standing tickets will not be up in front of the stage. People had issues with this at Ryan Adams but these people apparently don’t read the Ticketek website. You’ve been warned.

Of course Cat Power’s latest covers record, Jukebox, came out today in Australia (though I saw it in shops on Tuesday!). It features a nice selection of artists who have, apparently, been influential vocalists on Chan throughout her career. I shall be picking up the deluxe edition which comes with a bonus disc. Matador know how to play me. There is no free and legal mp3 from the record (anymore) so you’ll have to make do with the greatest (!) free and legal mp3 from any record label.

Download
Cat Power – The Greatest