Sigur Rós - 'ég fæ jólagjöf'

José Feliciano's 1970 song  'Feliz Navidad' is, according to the folks at Nielsen, the eighth most downloaded Christmas song in the US and Canada (placing it higher than Wham's Last Christmas but some several hundred thousand adrift of the number one spot where Mariah Carey sits). It's a catchy enough pop song, with simple repetitive lyrics, that bounces along with a saccharine cheeriness; tap your foot, reach for the Egg Nog, repeat until you don't care singing it aloud.

London alternative rockers Shame recently covered Feliz Navidad, producing a refreshingly shambolic take on the original that garnered praise when it aired on Steve Lamacq's Roundtable, but it's not the best cover of the song out there. Tucked away on SoundCloud, forgotten by me until the band tweeted a link to it yesterday, is Sigur Rós' suitably ethereal version of the song. 

Recorded live in a Reykjavik pub in 1999, replete with background chatter and digital pops, 'ég fæ jólagjöf' is a sombre, mournful, near unrecognisable variant on the original.



Admittedly it's not as catchy as the original, and it doesn't roll along as does Shame's cover, but it has its own dark kind of Christmas magic about it. This version would sit comfortably over the end credits of a Scandi-noir film or, better yet, provide fitting music for a slow tracking shot over the discarded cardboard from Amazon's festive ad campaign; the singing boxes silenced after their festive cargoes have been retrieved.

Too dark for Christmas Day? Well, maybe just a bit; if this hopelandic elegy isn't the Noisette Triangle in your box of festive chocs then maybe crank this up loud instead. 

An Eighties Challenge, Day Seven

So here we are, the final day of my Eighties Challenge, just time for one last trawl through the ocean of time to catch a shimmering fish of musical nostalgia.

With all the great music that was produced in the 1980s, and there was a lot, you didn't have to wait all that long for your new favourite band to make an appearance; turn on the radio, tune into Top Of The Pops on a Thursday night, listen to that cover-mounted cassette, there they were. Once discovered there was the inevitable period of new fandom, that golden time spent buying the single and listening to it over and over again. Of course, being a fickle minded youth, my allegiances to bands would wax and wane depending on the views of Smash Hits or the NME, hearing the appalling follow up single to the big hit, or just good old-fashioned peer pressure. Of all the bands I discovered back in the Eighties there a handful that I still regularly listen to, and today's band is one of them.

They weren't cool. They weren't hip. They weren't trendy. They didn't produce music that you could easily dance to or soundtrack car chases with but they had a good ear for melody and a nose for interesting and well-crafted lyrics. They let the drummer write the odd song and the bass player painted their album covers. They came from a land down under but were more interested in chocolate cake than Vegemite. They were Crowded House.

Now I know what some of you might be thinking; a guy like me who listens to bands that no-one else has heard of (let alone could be dragged along to see with me) must be having a laugh. I assure you I'm not. Crowded House? Really? Yes, really, and no I won't try and shrug off my appreciation of Neil Finn and chums as a guilty pleasure. I like listening to them and I'm not guilty about it. So there. I've still got their albums (I bought the debut in the Television Parlour shop in Fareham), a lot of the singles (I've even got the little cardboard box that collects the releases from Woodface) and even the odd live bootleg. For all my love of Krautrock, of Electronica, of noodly Indie guitar bands, of odd Modern Jazz from Scandinavia, I like Crowded House too. What can I say, I have catholic tastes.

And so I finish my seven days roaming the Eighties with one of my favourite Crowded House songs, taken from their under-rated second album, Temple Of Low Men (which is apparently a very rude album name indeed); here, from 1988, is Better Be Home Soon..

Ugly Duckling returning to Blighty

Long Beach's favourite sons Ugly Duckling provided one of my most enjoyable gig experiences of last year, in a packed Drift In The City of all places. The Californian three piece delivered an uplifting set of beats and rhymes that got even a Pompey crowd moving and, after giving 100% on stage, the guys made the time and effort to meet and greet afterward.

Details of a new UK tour have now started to appear on the Yudee forum and amongst the dates listed so far is a return visit to Portsmouth and a stop in Brighton; Andy C, Dizzy Dustin and Young Einstein will be at The Highlight in Gunwharf on Monday 10th October and The Haunt in Brighton on Saturday 15th October.

Update: The full list of dates has now been released by the band, in addition to the two local dates listed above they've squeezed in a visit to Southampton's Orange Rooms on Sunday 16th October. Orange, squeezed.. See what I did there? Yeah, with material that good I should be on TV. Ahem.

Pure Reason Revolution - Deus Ex Machina (live)

This interesting snippet of footage was filmed at the TS Wisla Hala in Krakow, Poland, during Reading prog-rockers Pure Reason Revolution's recent European jaunt supporting Porcupine Tree. This new tune, posted on YouTube with the band's consent, shows them going in a more 'industrial' direction.



To be honest, given the year the band has had, it's good to see them enjoying themselves (when I last saw them live they didn't have the best of evenings). This track is a good sign that the new album, which they're currently recording, is shaping up nicely. Excellent.

Delays 'Live at Southampton Guildhall' DVD

Southampton's Delays wrapped up a hectic 2006 (new album, lots of touring, new record deal) with a homecoming Christmas Extravaganza at Southampton Guildhall. Cameras were there to record the gig for posterity, and the following trailer has recently appeared on the band's MySpace to plug the forthcoming DVD release:


The DVD is released on Monday 7th May 2007 and will be available for purchase via the band's website.

SouthScene @ The Joiners 25/11/05

A combination of my legendary tardiness (I missed the train I was planning to catch), being too clever for my own good (I hopped the next train to Eastleigh, it seemed a cunning idea at the time) and a suicide at Surbiton (all the trains were delayed and I kicked my heels on a cold platform for half an hour) meant that I was later getting to The Joiners than I'd planned.

My late arrival meant I missed the first half of The Kiks set. For a Southampton band The Kiks had me fooled; I was convinced they'd just got off the train from Liverpool. The 60's influence and Mersey guitar jangle oozed out of them, accompanied by a cheeky chappy attitude. Now I like The Coral and I love The La's but, whilst The Kiks were obviously having lots of fun being in a band (and I can't fault them for that), they didn't offer me anything different than what I might find on a Cast b-side.

As the set continued it became apparent that they had a couple of good tunes tucked away, but they weren't good enough to sway me from my first impressions (and I'm sure they used "showaddywaddy" as a lyric at one point). So, not quite my bag of donuts (this from the man who hated The Coral when he first heard them but loves the new album) but seeing as I'd only paid a fiver to get in I can't really grumble.

Next up were Dead!Dead!Dead! who, I must admit, were the reason I'd travelled to Southampton on a chilly Friday night. Again another local outfit (well, it was a SouthScene showcase), D!D!D! have a shambolic polish about them that bigger acts I've seen could learn from.

They roared onto the stage, grabbed my attention, threw it around a bit, stopped for a couple of jokes at the drummer's expense (if the music career fails then a future in stand-up comedy beckons for the lead singer), then dropped the speed a notch before revving up for the end (OK, so I've been watching Top Gear).

The band themselves were very tight musically, with the two guitarists\vocalists knowing how to work the stage (something which can't be said of some of the bands I've paid more money to see), so chances are the signed CD I bought at the gig might be worth something on ebay some day.

Third up were Cayto who, strangely for a southern showcase, hail from northern climes (Glasgow to be precise). The lead singer, who bore an uncanny resemblance to Seth Green, built a piano wall to block himself off from one side of the audience and the bass player; with the rest of the band assembled loosely they started to play.

H'mm.

I have to admit that Cayto didn't connect with me. They made music that, to me, was far too clever for its trousers. Yes, they can play. Yes, they're talented. Yes, the lead singer was wearing a neckerchief. Yes, they make interesting music. But it's not music that you can dance to. Or sit still to. Or even do the ironing to. It's music that you have to go away and have a think over and work out whether someone is taking the piss or not.

Just when I heard a tune or a rhythm that I could hook into it was kicked down a flight of musical stairs on its way into the next movement. Maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind for them; I have a bottle of Absinthe here so maybe I'll give them another try one rainy winter evening (I think a warm-up session listening to The Bad Plus might come in handy).

Mach Schau were the headlining act of the showcase. Unfortunately a combination of a need for beer and my inherent geekiness meant that I missed the start of their set; I was at the bar talking to the guys from Dead!Dead!Dead! about the Evil Office baseball cap the rhythm guitarist had been sporting earlier on. Yes, all very sad.

As I returned with a fresh Grolsch the lead singer of Mach Schau teetered on the edge of the stage, leering out to the crowd in a casually disinterested manner. Sounding not unlike Maximo Park in places, Mach Schau ooze attitude; as they powered through their set the lead singer padded around the stage as if he couldn't give a toss if we were there or not.

He soon had his wish, we had to leave. I'd have liked to have stayed and seen the rest of their set but we had to hotfoot it to the station to get the last train out of the big city. Life is hard when you live in the suburbs, I didn't even get a chance to buy their CD (there are freebie MP3s on their website though).

Both Mach Schau and Dead!Dead!Dead! have gigs in the pipeline, I'd recommend checking them out if you get the chance.

Skin @ The Wedgewood Rooms 22/11/05

By my own admission I'm a gig whore; I love gigs, I just love 'em. That said, I've never being much of a Skunk Anansie fan so, quite unbelievably, I had to be talked into this one (my willpower has the breaking strain of a Kit Kat where gigs are concerned though, so it's not like I had to have my arm twisted that much).

Brighton's Make Good Your Escape kicked off the evening. From my position at the rear of The Wedgewood Rooms, I could only see three people onstage, I therefore naturally assumed that the muezzin-style introduction was a backing tape. No, though I only realised this as the band's front man slowly got to his feet. In addition to being possessed of a powerful range lead singer Mike Yates also has a comfortable stage presence; he works the crowd whilst the guitar and bass players blur out in time to the music, the drummer hiding at the back (only surfacing to run offstage for a disposable camera, returning to snap a a photo of the audience).

In a "it's late and I'm lazy and I've mislaid my big book of adjectives" way to describe their sound I'd say that they started off with a Mew\Muse feel (power chords, power vocals), changing to a more Muse\U2 sound as their set progressed (slightly more anthemic, mellower lyrics). All good though, and I'd like to hear more of them (luckily there are a few MP3s available from the band's website).

Skin stalked onstage, a woolly hat covering her trademark shaved head, and grabbed the microphone firmly by the stand. Lifting it above her head she began to sing and, frankly, wow. Her vocals boomed though, I must confess, they sounded slightly muffled. All was explained after two songs when, after trying in vain to introduce herself to the audience, she discovered her radio mic wasn't switched on. 

Whoops. 

Luckily a flick of a switch was all it took to fix matters, and then full power of her vocals became apparent (especially in a small venue like the Wedge). Not wanting to take the easy route, and save the crowd-pleasers for the encore, Skin decided to not only sing Weak early on but also to perform it in a mellower style. 

There was no hiding the fact that Skin was enjoying herself, easily evident from the manic grin she sported throughout the set, and she was having so much fun she went walkabout to the back of the Wedge (aren't radio microphones great?). Later, during Take Me On, a new song which is, as she herself put it, "another [one] about fucking", she went crowd surfing too.
A couple of Skunk Anansie tracks were dropped in amongst the new songs to appease te ardent fans, the new material though sounded both very raw and very good; I have it on good authority that her first solo CD was a mellow affair, it appears though that Skin is returning with all guns blazing with the new material which has something of a punk edge to it.
 
The set finished up with a cracking cover of Electronic's Getting Away With It, bang on the stroke of 11. After an all too brief encore Skin bounded offstage, sporting the biggest grin ever. An excellent gig then; I'm very glad I went and I'm looking forward to hearing her new album when it's released early next year. Hopefully she'll be touring it...