Mum - Concorde2
Some neat parallels can be drawn between Iceland’s unique geography and its three biggest musical exports: If Björk represents something of its otherworldly atmosphere and outsider status and Sigur Rós evoke the stately grace of its sweeping landscape; perhaps then Mum, with their deft blend of post-rock, electronica and pastoral instrumentation, recall its rich folk tradition and magical lore?
It must have been this and the C2’s proximity to the sea that gave this mesmerising gig its weirdly nautical feel. The majority of their melodies were delivered on melodica or violin and with a more organic feel about them than their characteristically electronic records, Mum’s synthetic sounds seemed to lap about their plaintive motifs like digital shingle or groan softly in the background like the creaking timber of some ancient vessel.
Swaddled in thick jumpers and hats throughout, the audience gifted the septet an atmosphere of hushed reverence; the band duly responded with an hour of exceptional dynamic control and bewitching, timeless music.
posted by: Jim Brackpool @ 10:59 PM
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Crowded House - Brighton Centre
Pale denim, chinos and practical fleeces abounded in the Brighton Centre on Friday night. The usual fiver-flapping, dog-eat-dog scrum at the bar was replaced by a sedate shuffle more akin to a country pub than a gig and once inside the arena, the most powerful stimulant you were likely to find yourself caught downwind of was an extra-strength Strepsil.
But you wouldn’t go to see Crowded House expecting sweat soaked walls and a life changing rock n roll experience. You’d go to hear some of the most beautifully crafted guitar pop of the last century, delivered by way of some faultless musicianship and lashings of on stage bonhomie. In this regard, Crowded House absolutely did not disappoint.
The subtle shifts in tone and ambiance that characterise the songs of Neil Finn so effortlessly evoke the complexities of modern love that even a soulless hangar like Brighton Centre soon enough feels warm and intimate like a cosy living room when commandeered by The 'House. Powerless to resist, a third of the way through, large sections of the audience trapped up in the stalls flooded down to the front not only to get closer to the band, but, you sensed, to get a little closer to each other too. And from there on in it was plain sailing for the reformed New Zealand 4 piece.
Initally Finn’s voice sounded a shade more weather-beaten than you might remember. And though this seemed to suit the lived-in feel of much of the older material, come the latter half of the set, it was virtually flawless with Finn wringing every workable nuance and subtle vocal flourish from songs he must have been singing for some 25 years now. The band went the distance with a six song encore, soliciting requests for obscurities from their back catalogue as they went, and by their curtain call even the most hardened of cynics (i.e. me) couldn’t deny the warm fuzzy feeling the band had left us all with.
posted by: Jim Brackpool @ 11:03 PM
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Lethal Bizzle - Concorde2
I’m looking around Brighton’s Concorde on a miserable Wednesday night and there appears not to be a soul in here below the age of 21. But if this is a snapshot of youth culture in 2007 then it would seem to be in rude health and fair play to Lethal Bizzle, for there can’t be many artists with - as the man himself might say - pulling p-p-power enough to unite this many youthful tribes under one roof. Seriously, they’re all here: Would-be gangstas in the staple cap’n’hoody combo trade handshakes with scary looking lads in cheap sportswear and John Terry crops, whilst dolled up R’n’B birds with massive hoop earrings rub shoulders with feral packs of nu-ravers minesweeping for unattended lagers in lurid day-glo T-Shirts. Truly, it’s a sight to behold.
So how has this happened? Well, there’s no cynical marketing ploy at work here and over the course of two albums, Bizzle (I hope no one minds me calling him ‘Bizzle) has effortlessly straddled Grime, UK Hip Hop, Indie, Grindie (remember that?) and mainstream R’n’B purely by BEING Bizzle: A spirited and gregarious, hulk of a man who’s clearly having the time of his life. Many are calling him the face of UK Hip Hop 2007 and after a summer of profile grabbing festival slots and some classic rock/rap crossover doings by way of recent collaboration with hardcore upstarts “Gallows”, these days you’re just as likely to find him in NME as you are on The Box or Radio 1.
Of course Bizzle knows all this and he’s totally at ease working a diverse crowd. In fact, he happily exploits it, referring to the melee before him throughout as a ‘mosh pit’; words, which let’s face it, you don’t hear at many Hip Hop shows.
Musically there’s not much going on beyond his DJ cutting out the backing tracks to let the crowd holler the words back and Bizzle, assistant MC, DJ and an onstage security goon / towel dispenser / camera phone operator stick rigidly to the classic Hip Hop show format. But no one seems to mind as they roll out all the tried and tested tricks; getting all the ladies to scream or splitting the crowd down the middle for a bit of call and response silliness. And Bizzle was obviously in his element displaying a unique warmth and likeability to his adopted strain of braggadocio.
They manage just over 35 minutes with breakthrough single POW! getting a second outing by way of an ‘encore’. But artists with nine times the repertoire and twelve times the talent have taken the atmosphere in the Concorde from rowdy anticipation to morgue-like sterility in just two numbers. Not so with Bizzle – his show’s just one huge, big hearted, party. And EVERYONE’s invited.
posted by: Jim Brackpool @ 11:16 PM
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