November
29/11/02
A bit like boomerangs
The relationship between some bands and Oxford is a bit like boomerangs. They just keep on coming back to play. Starting out though are The Capes on their first visit here from London. They played inoffensive jangly pop with a bit of 60s pop sound. It's nothing too bad, but when the other two bands play with so much intensity and emotion they are just overshadowed.
It's hard to believe it, but Dustball are still getting better. Following this band is one reason why I've been so disillusioned by the music industry. For over 5 years they've been writing some great songs, and yet it seems no one outside of Oxford ever seems to notice. They're getting angrier now, Jamie sings with so much emotion. And just when the set's becoming predictable again, they bookend their set with the 2 halves of The Croc, as if all the songs in the middle was just a dream.
It's difficult to follow Dustball, when every show they play just shows them at 110%, but Nought managed it. While Dustball tire you out because they have so much energy in their show, Nought do it just because of the concentration required to fully begin to appreciate their music. Often it seems they are just playing random noises, but underlying it all there is something there. James just effortlessly plays all these riffs on his guitar, and just slips from discordant noise to simple melodies.
Gig Count: 96 |  |
25/11/02
Trailerparking again
Another one of those great bands bill that we really should spread over a few nights. A fortnight after Chris T-T played (without his backing band), his supporting musicians arrive. The Folk Orchestra are a bit like an even more low key version of The Vessels, and not as country (obviously). There seemed to be loads of them in the band, and sang a fantastic song called The Winter Song
Meanwhile Luke Smith (and his dad) kept up the trend that headliners at Cellar gigs will keep on playing until they are literally kicked off (see also the Swearing at Motorist gig). It's scary the rate at which he writes his songs. Luke has only just released his 2nd album (which is full of songs familiar from the live sets - Luke's National Anthem, Saturday Job,...), but his set contained at least about 5 new songs. Listening to him is also quite distracting, to listen to his funny but observant lyrics, or to concentrate on his poppy melodies? He is just so uncool that he's cool.
Gig Count: 95
22/11/02
Dawn of the Sunnyvale Replicants
The members of Dawn of the Replicants just took over the gig tonight. First their clarinet/theremin player joined Sunnyvale Noise Sub-element. They're a bit of a difficult band to watch really, with no central member as such, there's no one to focus on. But maybe that's part of the point, since they're creating some of the most challenging music in Oxford since Spunkle. Proving that computers are amongst some of the most unreliable instruments, their computers even refused to boot up. Maybe it's time to fundraise to get Stu a new computer.
After SNS, it was a bit strange that everything would quieten down for a folky trio going by the name The Virgin Caines, until you realised that one of them was in DoTR. Thankfully it was only a short set.
From the dramatic name of Dawn of the Replicants, you would expect the band to play something pretty experimental, or odd anyway. But they turned out to be pretty normal. Except for the moment when they tried to use a fan as an instrument that is. However they did play a pretty good version of Rhinestone Cowboy.
Gig Count: 94
19/11/02
 | Further Proof that American bands are great
Aside from that Popidols bland pap, 2002 could be summed up as the year of the electroclash and nu (not UK) garage. Equally represented tonight by 2 bands on the City Slang label, both from America. For The Faint (yes another band with The... in their name) it looked like the Zodiac was taken over by Trash kidz. The 80s are cool again, they sounded like New Order with some Spandau Ballet and 90s pop in good measure.
It's almost as if there was a giant blender in the dressing room. Similarly Radio 4 were a strange blend of groups. Representing the garage side of things, they had the gang attitude of Rocket From the Crypt (and sounded a bit like them too), mixed with some INXS.
Obviously we're reaching the tail end of both genres, and in the future we'll probably slag these bands off (a la Sleeper), but at the moment it's so much fun. So why should we complain?
Gig Count: 93 |
18/11/02
Dutch (and American) bands are great
Sometimes it's those evenings when you don't expect much, that you end up really enjoying yourself. And another proven fact that very often it's the front man that makes the band. This was certainly the case for S Rock Levinson who featured a slightly deranged frontman. They fit in well with the whole British rock scene at the moment, doing the same yelly rock thing as bands like Jetplane Landing.
How come all groups from Holland are so cool? Last month it was Zoppo and now Jimmy Barock. In a contination from what S Rock Levinson were doing, they played a similar style of music, except with more melodic singing. A bit of rockier version of Seafood then, if you will.
And when we thought this gig just couldn't get better, we got Swearing at Motorists. Once they got on stage (ok not the stage, but the bit cordoned off by the speakers) they didn't want to leave, and kept on playing. You couldn't notice that they were playing for an hour and a half, it all went by so quickly. With a bit of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and a lot of their own style, they made the gig fun. It felt so intimate that the drummer kept on running off to the bar to get some drinks, and even a member of the audience went to take his place instead. It was a strange, strange night.
Gig Count: 92 |  |
16/11/02
 | Part II
The best thing about the gig tonight was how it showed the diversity of the bands in Oxford. Psychid have certainly taken their time to get things right, and just the way they wanted. Around 1999 they were one of the hardest gigging bands, so it's a bit odd not to have seen them play for over a year (well even more than that, since their last gig in Oxford was the Radiohead show where you couldn't see them properly). It's also strange since none of the songs that had grown so familiar were in the set anymore. But it doesn't really matter, since the new songs are just as good as their old material, and shows that they're not just regurgitating their old sound, but developing it at the same time.
After a lull in the summer, the last few Young Knives gigs have been ace. Tonight they were as tight as usual, but it's great to see them growing with confidence with all the talking in between. The band just feel so sure of what they doing, and don't seem to care if anyone else thinks they're cool or not.
It was odd to watch South Sea Company Prospectus at first. Since July they've lost Colin and Jonny, and are now continuing as a 4 piece with a new drummer. Unsurprisingly it took a while for them to get into full flow, but it helped they were playing, what is now, familiar material. It seems a waste though that their audience still is mainly rock/guitar band fans, while some dance fans would enjoy them equally as much.
Gig Count: 91 |
15/11/02
(Another) Mad Weekend: Part I
Considering how Caretaker seems to have been around for ages, it's strange how it's taken me this long to see them. They, like Dustball, are just doing their own thing, and don't really care if anyone will sign them or not. They are good too, with all the quiet and loud bits in just the right place.
Watching Black Nielson play tonight was quite amusing, no doubt helped by the mad air guitarists who rawked out to every song, even the slow ones. There's no other way to describe them but just lovely. They are bringing new material into their shows, even if the song tonight required 2 starts. The new song tonight shows them moving into more of an indie pop territory, some cross between the Fountains of Wayne and Super Furry Animals.
Gig Count: 90 |  |
11/11/02
 | Can't Stop Dreaming of Injured Popstars
How come when we have excellent Truck nights, all the good bands are on the same night. It'd make more sense to spread them out. Anyway opening were the suprise stars of this year's festival Trademark. In their lab coats with flashy lights they were the thinking man's Pet Shop Boys. It's as if they've never left the 80s, with all their electronic bobbins. Sometimes this could be a bit dull, but they make it interesting, especially the educational bit when they taught everyone about simple harmonic motion, followed by a quiz.
Chris T-T sums up Truck's attitude in a way. In a 2 fingers salute to the majors, taking the piss out of established artists, and writing some very fine songs on the way. His more contraversial songs will take the limelight (the brilliant Can't Stop Dreaming of Injured Popstars and the soon to cause legal problems Eminem is Gay. But there's another side to him too, with some gorgeous little songs. By playing an acoustic set tonight their beauty really shone through.
Luckily everyone stayed around for The Plume. Still starting out, they are taking their time to find their own sound. Moving away from their earlier jazzy sound, they're developing into quite a spaced out band, a bit of a rockier version of Sigur Ros, with vocals that you can understand.
Gig Count:89 |
04/11/02
Gentle Folk
After all the noise of last night, it was a complete contrast to listen to some simple guitars. Or so it seemed, expecting some acousticy type music, but it turned out everyone had brought along a full band.
Zoe Bicat was very folky, backed by a string section. However her songs never seemed to go anywhere.
Spygirl claimed to be urban folk trip-funk country-hop jazz-pop. But in actual fact were just quite jazzy pop. They did remind me a lot of Wonderland and Mazzy Star, no doubt partly because of the female vocals.
Then rocking it out a bit was Joe Hughes whose songs sounded like traditional pop rock, a bit like what Toulouse are doing, but don't let that put you off.
Gig Count: 88
03/11/02
Wow
I've waited 6 months for this gig (after the original dates were cancelled in June), and Fugazi don't disappoint. First though were a couple of other bands. Erase Errata, were pretty much like a female version of Fugazi, one of their songs sounded just like a song off The Argument, but they were pretty cool, especially with the random Trumpet noises that occured in a couple of the songs.
One of the most recent additions to the Dischord label were Q and not U. They were quite punky (in the good punk way), and when they were tight they were very good. However in the moment when they strayed they lost their focus. This could have been a problem because of the size of the Forum though. Not just for them but for the other bands, some of the noise was lost to the high cellings. When you felt that the intensity of the noise should just go through you, you felt nothing.
The support bands were fine examples of how influential Fugazi have been in their careers. They have proved that money isn't everything, and success doesn't mean having to sell millions of records. Their style has come through into so many of the good bands at the moment, and it could be just because of them. Watching them in such a large venue left me wondering how amazing it would be to catch them in a tinier, sweatier venue. But still all these sellout shows didn't seem to have affected the band much, just down to earth and treating their fans fairly.
Gig Count: 87
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