Seen some chatter about Black Country New Road but haven’t checked them out until now, looks like I missed out. Anyway, just bought both the albums.

Gremill wrote:

Saw Black Country, New Road at the Connect Festival in Edinburgh on Sunday - I absolutely love all of the music they've released and would have loved to see it performed live. However, since the singer had a breakdown and left, they've sworn not to perform any of the music he had a hand in creating. Which put me in the unique (for me) position of going to see a band that I love performing all new, unreleased material. I needn't have worried because everything they played in their 45 minute set was stunning, more so because they only released their second album in February this year - 4 days after Isaac Wood left. So how do you replace a singer who brought such fragility, vulnerability, honesty and humour to the band? For BC,NR you don't - you just let everybody else take turns. With only the drummer and one of the guitarists not taking lead vocals during the set, what you get is a real range of vocal styles which superbly complement the eclectic range of post-rock sounds created by some of the most talented musicians I've seen on a stage for a long time. Sitting in the sun on an afternoon, watching and listening to them effortlessly create those incredible soundscapes is one of the best live experiences I've had in years.

That's good to hear.  I've seen some of the new stuff on the usual badly recorded stuff on Youtube, but great to hear that, whilst different, they're still excellent live.

They're a band that I'd argue changed their sound a fair bit even when Isaac was there, so the shift is maybe easier to swallow - helped by the fact, as you say, that they're extremely good musicians in their own right.

Meanwhile, on an unrelated note, if anyone gets a chance to see "Keg" live, I absolutely recommend it. They're pretty good on record, but something else entirely in the flesh. The sound is, I guess, post-punk, but once again they're a versatile bunch (clearly pulled from different bits of the musical firmament) and the effect when I saw them was of one massive cacophonous musical party.  (They must have been good, as I allowed myself to join a mosh pit despite recently being told that I need to actively avoid any impact to my jaw or it'll fracture on the spot...)

Gremill wrote:

Blocks100 wrote:

@Gremill Good to hear that BCNR are still a force to be reckoned with. Was lucky enough to see them twice whilst Issac was still there, but couldn't stomach even listening to their new album, knowing I'd never get to hear it live. Spreading vocal duties across the band seems a sensible move. How do you replace a talent like Isaac? Answer: you don't.

I recommend listening to the second album, it's amazing.

It really, really is. It's a proper album too - none of this "loose collection of singles and filler" rubbish.  The songs interconnect and reference each other both musically and lyrically. They don't have the immediate impact of, say, Sunglasses, but I've listened to it an absurd number of times and keep finding new things in it - taken as a whole it's extraordinary.

acemuzzy wrote:

What kind of breakdown did the singer have? If a mental one, seems a bit harsh for the band to ditch all their music? But maybe I'm misreading...

https://www.nme.com/news/music/black-country-new-road-vocalist-isaac-wood-announces-departure-from-the-band-3150451

When you listen to his lyrics, they are so deeply personal to him that I couldn't imagine anyone else singing them.

Shit I've got pavement soon and we need to sort out childcare.

Funny you should mention this as I was only looking today for gigs in Belfast. Haven't been there for over 4 years (6Music Weekender in 2018) and was looking for a musical reason to go back. I will keep this place in mind.

Would anyone like to see Trampolene with me in Sheffield in January?

x

Like Boolitt, I was at the Pavement gig at the Roundhouse on Saturday. 

It was my wife's second time seeing them that week, as she'd also gone to see them in Leeds on Monday. She loves Pavement. A lot. I like them, but never quite got it. I've seen them once before when they played ATP, and this time was like seeing a different band. 

It took a while to nail the difference, but I think it's simply that this time they looked like they were really enjoying it. Which meant the audience were having a bloody great time too. I've been to the Roundhouse a lot, for no better reason than that my Mum lives just up the road, but I don't think I've ever seen it bouncing so hard.

We started the gig up front having come early for Richard Dawson (on whom, more later), but had to retreat about 1/3 of the way through because the whole "my jaw will shatter on any impact" thing renders mosh pits considerably more risky than they used to be. However, even from the relative safety of the sound desk I was having to duck on a pretty regular basis. (This is a complement). The band that looked tired of their songs and each other last time I saw them, now looked in love with their music and their fans. At one point Malkmus was enjoying himself so much he started playing his guitar behind his head, whilst Nastanovich bounced around the stage like a man possessed, infecting the room with new found glee.

As I walked out at the end a bloke behind me said "that was some bucket list stuff right there", and you could feel it in the crowd. My wife couldn't sleep at all that night she was buzzing so much...


But let's rewind a bit. Because the support act on Saturday, to my ill concealed delight, was Richard Dawson. In some ways it's an odd combination, as Dawson himself remarked.  "So how are you supposed to do a support slot for Pavement? I can't really do a rock show so, erm, here's an acapella song about a 17th Century almsgiver..."

It's a fairly ballsy way to open a support slot, but it worked.  The entire room was silent throughout his rendition of the song, setting him up nicely for the remaining set - just him and an increasingly tortured guitar. We got a nice mix of stuff from Peasant, 2020, and the upcoming album - with Dawson battling with his instrument to create noises you wouldn't normally expect to be emerging from a single guitar. It was a pretty virtuoso performance even if, as he put it "it's not for everyone".

Anticipation for his new album is even greater than it was, based on the new song he played and his description of where the record goes.  At the finale of the Pavement gig Malkmus suddenly realised he hadn't done the traditional "thank the support act" bit so he did - "I want to thank Richard.  Erm, his music makes me emotional".  I'm not entirely sure what that meant, but yes, yes it does.


Finally, whilst rewinding, the previous weekend we saw another nostalgic dip into bands we loved in the 90s.  It had a very different feel though. Hefner certainly never had remotely the popularity of Pavement, and so seeing Darren Hayman performing the first two Hefner albums as a solo act was an entirely different experience. Rather than the Roundhouse, it was a bunch of people packed into awkward seats in what was essentially the foyer of Age UK in Leeds. Hayman himself came out during the support act to sit at the back with us late arrivers to check out the view. Having chatted to us briefly about how it was clearly a bit shit, he quietly rearranged the seating, and we found ourselves moved to the front.

As a result it was a wonderfully intimate little gig. He's good company, happy to chat about the songs, the process, and himself. Gently reflecting on how they've changed with the passage of time - introducing "The Librarian" he observed, "I used to think this was a heartbreaking song about unrequited love - but now I realise the main character's just a creep. These days I'm with the librarian all the way..."

The first album, Breaking God's Heart is good, but it's the second "The Fidelity Wars" that we've come for. A record full of yearning, heartbreak and sex that proved a weird backing track to the start of our relationship together. Revisiting it was a revelation. I'd spent the week before dealing with death and horror from all directions, yet suddenly, sat in this silly cold building, listening to a man play songs from his youth, everything kind of made sense again.  At one point, I looked through the glass door behind Hayman to see an enormous fat rat staring in at us, and thought "yes, just leave all that shit out there with the rats".  For an evening at least I was able to, and it was bloody great.

Good write-up there, tin. Enjoyed reading all that a lot. 

Also, fucking kudos on taking your glass jaw to that gig. The absolute balls.

Looks like a scene from Dr Sleep.

Haha

Independent Venue Week is coming up shortly. Got me tickets for The Orielles @ Future Yard (dithered too long over Badly Drawn Boy who sold out that small venue).

Rozi Plain @ St Mary's Creative Space in Chester and local hero Bill Nickson plays the Jacaranda Club in Liverpool - going to be a busy week!

Support your local music venue!

https://independentvenueweek.com/uk/

Viagra Boys at the Glasgow Barrowlands tomorrow night - cannot wait! Combination of one of the best venues in the country and the throbbing grooves of one of the tightest bands around at the moment is sure to mean great things.

Shona telling me this week that basically she's pals with the barras owner now since she has a stall there and can get us guestie for any gig there. Nice! Feel like poppo!

Maybe Poppo could do the Rangers game tomorrow and I’ll go and see Viagra Boys