A bit late on this review. “Life” has gotten in the way. Anyway, on Saturday night, Montreal’s Handsome Furs totally blew me away. I’d had an insanely long, tiring day, yet the second Alexei Perry and Dan Boeckner hit the stage my entire day disappeared and was replaced with energy and passion.

Face Control is one of my favourite records of 2009 so I was stoked that most of the set pulled from it. All We Want, Baby, Is Everything, I’m Confused, and Radio Kaliningrad were all insane but the two news songs played went down just as well.

All night I was impressed with the energy Dan and Alexei brought to the stage. Alexei seemed to be on one leg half the gig (and was constantly smiling and laughing), while Dan spent much of the night savaging his guitar. A truly memorable gig.

Setlist
Legal Tender
Talking Hotel Arbat Blues
All We Want, Baby, Is Everything
Evangeline
I’m Confused
White City (some sort of new/extended version)
Nyet Spasiba
Handsome Furs Hate This City
Radio Kaliningrad
———
Dead + Rural
Agony

That awesome photo above was taken by the very talented Ro. She’s got more up here.

On the off chance you still haven’t heard…

Download
Handsome Furs – Radio Kaliningrad
Handsome Furs – I’m Confused

ALSO…there was a band on in the “other” room who seemed pretty cool but I didn’t catch their name. If you know who this band was or are in said band, please leave a comment!

But I don’t have time to get into it at the moment…plus I can’t find the setlist I wrote down on a scrap piece of paper. But yeah, awesome times.

I moved to Sydney four years ago this week. A few weeks after arriving, Amanda and I went to a Spoon gig at the Metro (sadly this just predates A Reminder…so no review). Shortly after we arrived a support band called Dappled Cities Fly took to the stage. Amanda and I were both pretty impressed and spent the journey home discussing which singer we thought was better. Little did I know that four years on (and about a dozen Dappled gigs later) this young band (minus the “Fly”) would be one of my favourite Australian discoveries since moving to Sydney.

As it turns out, last night’s gig at the Metro was one of those “life has come full-circle” moments for me. Next month Amanda and I are leaving Sydney and moving to my hometown (maybe not permanently…we’ll see) so seeing Dappled Cities on the same stage I saw them four years ago was kind of totally perfect. In 2005 they were supporting Spoon. In 2009 they headlined and sold out the very same venue under their own steam. It was a triumphant hometown gig and one I’ll remember for a while. I’m sure the band will too.

As the band took the stage to thunderous applause you could tell that this gig (their biggest to date) meant a lot to the five guys. Zounds has just hit the shops, The Price is all over the place and by all accounts the Wall Of Zounds tour has been going great. Throughout the gig the band seemed genuinely surprised and incredibly thrilled with their reception. Even as the opening song Colour Coding was beset by technical problems before properly taking off, it was met with nothing but enthusiasm from the crowd. And once the band finally got going they didn’t let up for ninety minutes.

Dappled played a solid mix from all three records, including an early airing of Peach and Cream from their underrated debut, A Smile both of which were better than they’ve ever been. The new songs went down a treat as well. Despite only being out for a week, Zounds tracks like The Price and The Night Is Young At Heart were met with rapturous singalongs/applause.

Late in the set the band dropped Holy Chord which has been a live favourite of mine for years now but last night’s performance was the best I’ve ever seen, largely due to the crowd’s enthusiasm. When the band returned for an encore they donned their light suits for The Price and Apart, one of the highlights of Zounds. The band then returned for an unplanned encore of Stepshadows which Tim described as a “farewell song.” It was a pretty fitting last song for me.

Of the many Dappled gigs I’ve seen, I’ve never seen them this good. First off, from an “extras” point of view, the simple projections and extra lights worked great. But more importantly, the new material has brought some new life to older songs, the boys are getting better on their instruments, and their willingness to experiment with their songs in a live setting mean that every song sounds fresh even if I’ve heard it live countless times. They are simply getting better and better.

Setlist
Colour Coding
Peach
Vision Bell
The Night Is Young At Heart
Wooden Ships
Fire Fire Fire
Miniature Alas
Beach Song
Answer Is Zero
Holy Chord
Cream
———
The Price
Apart
———
Stepshadows

My photos from the gig here.

I briefly mentioned the new Radiohead song a couple days ago but wanted to hold off to see if the band were planning anything official and it turns out they were. I’m still not sure where the mysterious leak of last week originated but a few hours ago Jonny (once again) took to Dead Air Space to announce the release of some brand new Radiohead music:

So here’s a new song, called ‘These Are My Twisted Words’.

We’ve been recording for a while, and this was one of the first we finished. We’re pretty proud of it.

There’s other stuff in various states of completion, but this is one we’ve been practicing, and which we’ll probably play at this summer’s concerts. Hope you like it.

Download the audio here or torrent here.

Jonny

Putting your stuff straight on a torrent site…kinda cool. Trent would be proud.

As for the song itself, it does sound a wee bit demoey to me but I definitely do dig These Are My Twisted Words. Those bassy guitar bits that come in part way through are awesome. And while I love the idea of a band being able to release music as soon as it’s done (and for free, at that) I’m not sure how I feel about random songs just appearing on WASTE. Album us up, boys.

Download
Radiohead – These Are My Twisted Words

The reason I try to review a gig immediately after seeing it? When I have to write it two days later as I am right now I never remember what I wanted to say. Blergh. Alrighty, so The Paper Scissors brought their Howl tour to the Oxford Art Factory in Darlinghurst on Friday night and while the crowd seemed to drift in and out of enthusiasm, I was pretty impressed. As I mentioned in my review of a recent Basics gig, sometimes a band can have trouble connecting when playing a stack of new material that has yet to be released…but The Paper Scissors did a pretty damn good job. Likely because some of the new stuff was immediately enjoyable.

What most impressed me on the night, however, was the musicianship. Now a three-piece (including, I believe, the [former?] Belles Will Ring drummer), the band had little in the way of extras on the stage…it was all down to guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. And let’s just start off by acknowledging the drumming…which was insane. And those basslines still got the dance-floor moving while lead singer Jai exhibited some virtuosity on the guitar I don’t recall at previous gigs.

The crowd was obviously well up for We Don’t Walk and Yamanote Line (which featured openers Ernest Ellis helping out) but current single Howl was also rapturously received. Bonus points to Jai for sneaking in a little INXS into the instrumental break during We Don’t Walk. Worked a charm!

A few photos up here.

The Hidden Cameras, one of Canada’s more under-appreciated bands, are set to return in September with their first record in three years called Origin:Orphan. The band have made Walk On available as a download and it’s a great song…albeit a bit of a departure for the Toronto ensemble. It’s darker than much of the Cameras back catalogue and it features Let It Come Down-era Spiritualized bombast (well maybe not that much). The song is a bit of a mid-paced march which augments the lyrics perfectly. The Hidden Cameras have never sounded so huge.

Download
The Hidden Cameras – Walk On

Officially excited for the album. You can also check out the video for the first single, In The NA below.

Origin:Orphan is out September 22 in North America on Arts & Crafts.

And yes, I’m aware of the this “new” mysterious “Radiohead” song that somehow surfaced today. I dig it and think it’s real (but likely not new) but I’m waiting to post it/write about it for a day or two to see if the band have something up their sleeve. Needless to say, the At Ease sleuths have done a fine job digging deep into “Thom’s” message and the ID3 tag on the mp3.

When I first heard Howl, the first thing that popped into my head was, “The Paper Scissors are going to have one of the catchiest Greatest Hits ever.” After the sing/dance-alongs of We Don’t Walk and Yamanote Line I didn’t think they had another one in them. But they did.

Download
The Paper Scissors – Howl

Great tune. The Paper Scissors are touring in support of the Howl EP which is in stores now. It’s a great little EP and has me stoked for the forthcoming record. Check them out in Sydney this Friday at the Oxford Art Factory as it should be a great gig.

In addition, the band have a competition going on as they recruit some singers in each city they visit. Details here. See you on stage?

Radiohead just announced the details of a new song called Harry Patch (In Memory Of) on their website.

Recently the last remaining UK veteran of the 1st world war Harry Patch died at the age of 111.
I had heard a very emotional interview with him a few years ago on the Today program on Radio4.
The way he talked about war had a profound effect on me.
It became the inspiration for a song that we happened to record a few weeks before his death.
It was done live in an abbey. The strings were arranged by Jonny.
I very much hope the song does justice to his memory as the last survivor.

It would be very easy for our generation to forget the true horror of war, without the likes of Harry to remind us.
I hope we do not forget.

As Harry himself said
“Irrespective of the uniforms we wore, we were all victims”.

This morning the Today program played the song for the first time and now it is available to download from our website.

Please click here to download.

The proceeds of this song will go to the British Legion.

To peace and understanding.

Thom

And it’s a beautiful song absolutely drenched with strings. In fact, other than Thom’s voice, it sounds like that’s all there is.

Last night Spectrum turned five years old and threw a pretty great party for itself. I arrived about halfway through We Say Bamboulee’s set and I totally regret not getting there earlier. Despite being the type of music I very often dislike, something about this trio totally worked. Nerdy bedroom electro-pop (on cordial!) doesn’t get much better than this.

After a pretty solid P*A*S*H DJ set, The Seabellies managed to squeeze themselves and all their gear on Spectrum’s tiny stage. It’s been a long time since I last saw them live but they’re still sounding pretty grand. The band played some new stuff last night and by the sounds of it their album should be great.

Dappled Dave then DJ’d a while before Young & Restless took to the stage. They absolutely slayed. SLAYED. Lead singer Karina Utomo reminded me that she is one of Australia’s most magnetic lead singers. You cannot take your eyes off her as she stalks the stage and produces more volume than anyone of that size should be able to. Highlights were Dirty Kicks, Police! Police! and new single Creeps. Also memorable was guitarist Josh’s impromptu Billy Bragg cover that he played as the band searched for a new kick-drum pedal after their’s broke. Well done, sir.

After that The E.L.F. took to the DJ booth and kept the party going…or at least I assume. I had to take off after a couple songs…but anytime you hear Rock Around The Clock and A Whole Lot Of Shakin’ Goin’ On late on a Friday night, things are going pretty well.

All in all a pretty great party. Plus good people. It was great to see the half of the Undercutzz that isn’t a Pull Out Bro. Great talking with you Angus and Darren.

Photos here.