Sunday, March 25, 2012

Live Review


Kasabian – Terminal 5, March 22nd 2012

I’m almost embarrassed to admit that after all the excellent reviews you’ve heard about this band over the years, and the countless gigs and festivals I’ve attended since they emerged on the scene, this was my first ever time seeing Kasabian live. I had missed them by a matter of months when I first arrived in NYC, and unlike most big English bands they hadn’t been back in 6 years. I thought it was never meant to be, and I was 100% certain they'd cancel this gig the day before, but as luck would have it, they didn't.

Kasabian create a huge sound playing live, and I cant help but think they would have been better suited by a bigger venue than Terminal 5. They put on a good mix of the better tracks from their most recent album (Velociraptor) and their older stuff, and even the songs that don’t stand out on the album were excellent when put through their paces live (Switchboard smile springs to mind here).  The majority of the songs they played were upbeat entertainers, and although they did slow it down a touch with Thick As Thieves and Man Of Simple Pleasures, this was probably the most animated I’ve ever seen a terminal 5 crowd, including several attempts at crowd surfing which is generally unheard of on these shores. I suppose with 90% of the audience seemingly being British and mostly intoxicated these things are likely to happen.. Serge played up to the crowd well with decent banter, and it was obvious the band appreciated being in New York City (lost count of the number of times Tom said ‘New York City’ in his between song patter). They appreciated the crowd, and the crowd loved them right back. The finale was ‘Fire’, which is an explosively fitting way to end any gig. This was a fantastic show, and the Black Keys playing the same night at that big venue down the road (Madison Square Garden) would have been hard pushed to put on a better show than this.

VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

New Reviews - March 25th


Chairlift - Something

After the first listen 'Something' really sounds like a bit of a collection of random noises wrapped around strong vocals and keyboards, but after listening more you find it actually all hangs together pretty impressively. There are some excellent low-key electro chill out tunes on here, combined with more upbeat 70s / 80s sounding stuff. Chairlift have a somewhat unique electronic sound, and overall this is a very solid album with good flow and particularly easy on the ear vocals.

Sounds like: Bat for lashes crossed with Goldfrapp / Ladyhawke

Top tracks: Wrong opinion, Amanaemonesia, Met Before

7.5/10


Guided By Voices – Lets Go Eat The Factory

This album contains 21 songs, yet is only 42 minutes long. You do the math(s). Despite most of the songs being under 2 minutes long, some of the riffs produced here are excellent. Guided By Voices are a proper old school low-fi rock outfit, it’s almost frustrating when some of the songs cut out before they really get going. Some tracks on here are just noise, though its fair to say that there are no tracks here that are long enough to be dull.. This is generally an entertaining album, and I imagine they would put on a good show.

Sounds Like: 60s/70s rock, The Kinks but shorter and stranger.

Top Tracks: Doughnut For A Snowman, God Loves Us, Cyclone Utilities, We Wont Apologise For The Human Race

6/10


Lana Del Rey – Born To Die

You can almost tell how this is going to sound just by the picture on the album cover. Lana Del Rey has an old soulful voice and to me this is very much like a modern indie interpretation of Nancy Sinatra. The music is predominantly dark, rarely upbeat, distinctly trip-hop ish at times, and most of all superbly produced. There is a combination of sounds and a mix of slower songs (Video Games, Blue Jeans) with one or two upbeat tracks (Off To The Races, Diet Mountain Dew).  Born To Die is filled with great tunes, there really are no fillers here. This is a superb album, and an excellent sound overall. It could be a modern classic.

Sounds like: Nancy Sinatra, Jefferson airplane vs zero 7 / tricky

Top tracks: Off To The Races, Born To Die, National Anthem, Radio

9/10