Video Of The Month #5: The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age Of The Understatement [dir. Romain Gavras]

This month's choice for video of the month almost went to The Wave Pictures for 'Love You Like A Madman' (not only is it a top song, the video was directed by one Darren Hayman), but the single was actually released over a month ago. Same with Born Ruffians' 'Hummingbird'. Instead I thought I'd go for something out around now.

Regardless of a band's own work, one of the best things they can do is turn young people on to their influences. Oasis made The Beatles cool with Britpop teenagers, The Strokes reignited interest in 70s garage rock and bands like Television, The Libertines' Up The Bracket encouraged noughties urchins to buy copies of The Clash, and it goes on...

So if Alex Turner's side project The Last Shadow Puppets can use his popularity to get the kids into Scott Walker it can only be a good thing and is worth doing if only for this altruistic purpose. A lot of the first offerings from the duo's forthcoming debut album put you in mind of Walker and first single 'The Age Of The Understatement' lifts the thundering horse-hoof backing of Walker's cover of Jacques Brel's 'Jackie'. On top of nods to Walker, away from at least some of the critical microscope that was on the Arctic Monkeys' record, The Age Of The Understatement seems like it is going to be home to the diversity, fresh ideas and progressiveness that were missing from Favourite Worst Nightmare. Fingers crossed anyway.

The military/ice-skating mashup of a video is not the best I've ever seen but Alex and Miles do sport some suitably dapper coats. As a bonus there is the 'acoustic' version recorded at New York's Avatar Studios below.







Live at Avatar Studios [dir. Rob Hall]

Kid Harpoon - The Second EP [Young Turks EP]

Anyone who has had the pleasure of seeing a Kid Harpoon live show will testify that there is, indeed, enough energy coming off stage to probably take down a small whale. Thankfully, Tom Hull has directed this vigour into far less morally dubious pursuits with the release of his – you guessed it – second EP, ‘The Second EP’. While much of his first EP retained a demo feel to it, this time things sound more polished. But the six tracks each keep alive both the rawness of the first collection and the vibrancy of a Kid Harpoon live performance.

The drama that was in evidence on ‘The First EP’ is immediately apparent here with opener ‘Riverside’, previously released as Kid Harpoon’s first single. Verging on the epic it is dripping with imagery. Wailing guitar and Hull’s voice – alternating from whisper to snarl – cuts through the Waterboys-esque Celtic strumming, and, in fact, the ceaseless energy of ‘Riverside’ puts one in mind of Mike Scott’s band’s ‘Fisherman’s Blues’. Either way, it’s an auspicious, energetic start to the EP, with allegorical lyrics and some great vocal work.

‘Fathers And Sons’ continues the pastoral imagery of ‘Riverside’: “Baby my baby, we’ll run to an island, I’ll catch us some dinner, buy you a diamond. Playing my music with you right beside me, I will be happy there” and similarly to ‘Riverside’ is built around the combination of snare drum, strummed acoustic and robust lead guitar. ‘Suicide Grandad?’ is the strangely cheerful story of an old man contemplating a “stylish” suicide, to leave a world that holds no more for him “to the children”. Brimming with artful couplets like “we can have a laugh or be the joke” it is the perfect example of Hull’s thoughtful approach to music-making. The song’s bittersweet outlook mirrors piano-led fourth track ‘In The Dark’, which is for the most part rather gloomy, but offers that “in the dark” there is a “glimmer of hope”.

Her Body Sways is the lightest moment of the EP, preaching the preference for “birds” rather than “gunshots” in the air, and something upbeat is probably necessary for the EP not to slip into maudlin territory. Formed around a breezy piano solo and bustling rhythm section it is simply a well-executed pretty little love song. Its counterpoint is final track ‘Lay Of The Land’: a sparse contemplative ballad (this time concentrating on the negative side of romance) in the same vein as first EP highlight ‘As It Always Was’ that showcases the delicate side of Hull’s song writing as well as the quality of his voice.

With his second EP Kid Harpoon builds on the successes of the first and continues to establish his own ground among the swathe of London-based young men forging paths around him, including label-mate Jack Peñate, Jamie T and Lightspeed Champion. The songs on ‘Second EP’ are earnest, lyrically astute and often just great, and if the forthcoming debut album matches the twelve songs already released by Kid Harpoon it should certainly be one to watch out for.

****

First published on rockfeedback.com. See it here.

Richmond Fontaine live @ The Luminaire (11/10/07), Willy Vlautin & Paul Brainard live @ the Boogaloo (01/04/08)

Ah America. For many across the world, not least those trudging through their 9-5 lives in this grey country, there is little more romantic than the endless mystery and possibilities of the 50 United States: the America of Whitman, Twain and Kerouac; the America of Richmond Fontaine. For bands don’t come much more ‘American[a]’ than Willy Vlautin’s now Portland-based band, with Nevada and the surrounding states soaked like bourbon into the fabric of the band and barely a song passing without a street, town, city or state name-checked – most notably Vlautin’s native Reno. Something Britons also love is a loser, and Vlautin’s songs and stories have got them by the casino-full. A morbid fascination with the fucked-up individual is a national obsession (not least in music where the rock’n’roll star on a downward spiral is perhaps the pinnacle of achievement) and it seems to be one that this particular American shares.

These traits might explain why, despite producing some of the finest Americana albums of their generation, the band has enjoyed more success on our shores than back home. In any case, over the course of two very different shows Willy Vlautin and his associates transplant Nevada onto two North London venues, demonstrating just why they deserve be revered on both sides of the Atlantic. The grim urban strait that is the Kilburn High Road and the leafy suburbia of Highgate are pretty far removed from the dusty western states of America, but for one night each side of the London winter The Luminaire and The Boogaloo are transformed into the sun-baked blue collar America inhabited by the motley collection of down and outs that wander nomadically through Vlautin’s songs.

* * *

Almost all Richmond Fontaine songs are dark ones, telling the stories of people struggling to deal with what life throws at them, something the songwriter himself touches upon: “Half the songs depress me...I tried to be that guy... but I’m kinda glad I’m not” Vlautin smiles wryly between songs. But with the full Richmond Fontaine line-up on top form and playing loud at this October show at The Luminaire, the energy dripping from the band on the big country rock numbers (and the beauty of the gentle ones) means that this proves to be anything but a depressing performance.

Kicking off with the majestic instrumental ‘El Tiradito’ from latest album ‘Thirteen Cities’ (2007), the band rattle through a set showcasing both the talent of the band and the breadth of top-notch material a 14 year career has accumulated (this the first night of a two-show residency during which only three songs are played twice). Crowd favourites come in the form of trio ‘Barely Losing’, ‘The Longer You Wait’ and the title track from pivotal album ‘Post To Wire’ (2005), from which a fair bit of the set is taken. The reverential audience are treated to songs from across the band’s canon, though, including several from ‘Thirteen Cities’ (including an enthralling performance of ‘$87 And A Guilty Conscience That Gets Worse The Longer I Go’) an album that, despite the longevity of their career and relative struggle for acclaim, suggests Richmond Fontaine still have a lot left in their tank.

Vlautin himself is every inch the alt-country front man, coming across as an amalgamation of Springsteen and Jeff Tweedy in his plaid shirt. But while the band is undoubtedly built around its singer such is his presence as songwriter, frontman and spokesman, live they are at least the sum of their parts. Each member of the band more than pulls their weight, but it is perhaps Paul Brainard who contributes most to the success of the five-piece’s live success. His alternate pedal steel and trumpet work lift the already engagingly performed songs onto a higher plain. It is no exaggeration to say that every single one is played with the utmost skill and verve, and, despite the all-pervading gloom of the songs’ subject matter, witnessing this band on top of their game is as much fun as it looks to be on stage.

It is just surprising, and a little disappointing, when the door of the venue leads back out to the night air of Kilburn rather than the casino joints of Reno.

* * *

Fast-forward some five months and Vlautin is back in North London, Paul Brainard in tow, this time promoting his second novel ‘The Northline’ with a reading and low-key acoustic set, the Boogaloo’s “The South shall rise again” Elvis poster providing a suitable backdrop to the duo.

Those familiar with the proselike, storytelling nature of Richmond Fontaine’s songs won’t be surprised that Vlautin has become a published author and it is by no means a generalisation to say his novels are an extension of his songs. The spoken word vignettes on Fontaine albums, the poignant snapshots of the lost souls of Reno and Vegas contained within his songs are simply given more room to breathe, the snapshots turned into half full old photograph albums. This is something endearingly proven by Vlautin’s reading of a particularly bleak chapter from ‘The Northline’, relating each line as if it is a line of a song – something it actually becomes when Brainard joins in with some atmospheric pedal steel.

Following this enlightening and personal glimpse into a man and his writing (something that at least equals his music), there is time for almost an hour’s worth of Fontaine songs. Hampered by a broken wrist suffered when his horse (“he’s a moody guy just like me”) bucked him on his last ride before going on tour, Vlautin is confined to playing only fingerpicked songs from the back catalogue, but in this intimate setting this is far from a short-coming as favourites from ‘Post To Wire’, ‘The Fitzgerald’, ‘Thirteen Cities’ and the instrumental soundtrack written to accompany ‘The Northline’ are beautifully played. Brainard’s pedal steel and trumpet again add exquisite melancholy to each one and songs like ‘Two Broken Hearts’, ‘Barely Losing’ and ‘Capsized’ are at their most affecting reduced to their bare bones like this.

As well as the reading and performance, we are treated to between-song insights into Vlautin (and Brainard’s) own life, like the story behind ‘The Fitzgerald’s ‘Exit 194B’, written about when Vlautin got drunk and listened to Merle Haggard records with his two housemates for a few years: ”Until we all started to fall apart. One of us fell a little harder than the others and so I wrote this song for him”. He also explains about Allison Johnson, the main character in ‘The Northline’ and the eponymous heroine of a song of her own, who is based on his grandmother, his mother and himself (“My grandmother had a hard time going out in public situations...my mother got lucky and found a good man...and I just used to dream and get drunk a lot”). You begin to realise that the characters that fill his songs and stories, the ones that appeal so idealistically (albeit perversely so) from across the Atlantic are the ones that have filled Vlautin’s own life. It is this honesty that gives the soul and emotion to his writing and makes the performance all the more affecting.

Following the closing number there is the chance for the crowd to chat to Vlautin and Brainard and maybe get a copy of ‘The Northline’ signed. There is also the opportunity to reflect on this evening and the one in The Luminaire several months ago. The two nights are very different, the first showcasing the energy and atmosphere created by a band at the top of its form, the second the contemplative songcraft of Willy Vlautin, and each one many more things in between. Above it all they both emphasise how and why Richmond Fontaine are a band to be treasured.

*****

First published on rockfeedback.com. See it here.

*Thanks to Tom from rockfeedback for sorting out the tickets for the Luminaire show and waiting 5 months for me to review it...

Ryan Adams talking to Bob Mould

Not that any more needs to be said, this is a video (originally published on dradamsfilms.com) of Ryan Adams asking Bob Mould of Husker Du a few questions in his apartment. Awesome.

NB. It seems the video has gone the way of Ryan's blog and disappeared into the ether. Which is a shame cos there was some really good stuff on there. Oh well, hopefully he's beavering away at his new record as we speak...


Late Afternoon with DRAdams from Ryan Adams on Vimeo.