Radiohead can, it seems, do no wrong. Not content with being considered rock gods and all round good guys for donating an extra £30,000 from their own pocket for the recent video competition, they’ve decided to webcast their entire last perfromance in their North American Tour. And it’s a doozey. Here’s what they had to say:
Hello! To celebrate the end of a brilliant tour, we’re going to webcast the last show here in America. We’ll be playing live in Santa Barbara, at the Bowl. It’s one of our favourite places to play; I think we’ve ended tours there before, once even playing a cover of [Neil Young's] ‘ cinnamon girl ‘. It’s not too big, in fact it’s very intimate, a small arena with a dirt floor, set in pretty countryside. It should be a special night, for lots of reasons, and we’re going to try and share as much of it as we can on the webcast. Nigel [Godrich], our producer, will be helping out getting it to you, so if it goes wrong….It’s live!
Thank you so much to everyone who’s come and seen us this year; it has truly been the most special and exciting tour for all of us.
Webcast details to follow…
x
Colin
Be all over it here. Track list after the jump. (more…)
‘Friend Opportunity’ is Deerhoof’s tenth album and was released on January 23, 2007. Based in San Francisco, this three piece is fronted by Satomi Matsuzaki, who moved from Tokyo in 1996. Deerhoof are a noise rock / electro rock/ indie rock band famed for their unconventional song structures and lyrics. Despite the fact that none of its member had formal musical training, their music is incredibly accomplished.
The album opens with the riff heavy, catchy ‘The Perfect Me’, which fuses radio friendly rock with unexpected time changes, strangely emotive moments all tied together with fierce drumming.
+81 is the quintessential Deerhoof track. It best describes what deerhoof are about. It starts with a fanfare, briefly turns into a military march before introducing you to the improbable vocal style of Matsuzaki. Her voise is just so ‘japanese’ that it sounds put on – it wavers with weakness, and is doubled and trippled throughout the track to lend some strength. But two minutes in you don’t notice. The production of this track is amazing, with hand claps, low range beeps and moments of silence all used with minimal brilliance.
Ten seconds of guitar at around 1.10 seconds in takes the track in a different direction again, yet it never sounds confused. Its inspired. And that’s Deerhoof.
THINK: A relevant japanese pixies without the ego READ: Deerhoof’s homepage or myspace. Greg Saunier’s Blog. WATCH: The Perfect me clip LISTEN: Deerhoof perform live on KEXP, or check out their mp3’s BUY: Friend Opportunity at inSound
“The Berg Sans Nipple are an indie rock band from Nebraska and Paris, consisting of (but not limited to) Lori Sean Berg and Shane Aspegren.” Everything you read about Berg Sans Nipple has that sentence in it. I mean EVERYTHING! And you’d be pushed to find anything else written about these guys or their album, Along the Quai. Released in January on Team Love Records it seemed to sink without a trace. Only through the power of the interweb did I come across them.
I suppose it makes sense that the sort of guys who make music like this aren’t the sort to shout about it from the hill tops. And that’s a great shame, because Along the Quai is a beautifully percussive album. They prove that bongos aren’t the devils work. My hippy-hating girlfriend almost had me convinced otherwise. I haven’t told her there’s a Glockenspeil and cow bells in there too. But don’t let these words scare you – have a listen to the title track and ‘Of the song’ below, and hear for yourself – this aint no stinkin’ hippy music.
The deeply distorted vocals are used sparingly, almost enough to consider this an instrumental album. I think the samples and loops have enough grain to retain the feeling of having been handled. It’s wonderfully arganic in sound and texture. Do you buy that? It’s true, but I can’t help think that I’ve oversold my credability with that one sentence.
Along the Quai won’t change the world, but it will make a sunny Sunday seem perfect.
THINK: Propellorheads with guitars, Tortoise with chunky beats.
