mp3: You Can Decide
mp3: Shorter, Shorter
mp3: You’re So Pretty
mp3: I’m Tired 

website: http://www.field-music.co.uk 

I don’t know if it’s fair to call Field Music cool or hip, but they come from Sunderland and have shared members with two of England’s biggest indie bands of last year, The Futureheads and Maximo Park - both of whom I actually like.

Field Music are much more lo-fi and not so explosive in radio terms but I really like what I’ve heard of them so far, and one of the most striking comparisons I can make is that much of their stuff really reminds me of early (pre-Neil Finn) Split Enz. That’s not a comparison I’d use lightly, nor one you’ll see often, so they’re definitely worth sampling.

So the week of the Andrew Bird Dutch tour has arrived. Here is the latest info:

May 4 - Doornroosje, Nijmegen
May 5 - Paradiso, Amsterdam (grote zaal)
May 6 - Paradiso, Amsterdam (kleine zaal - possibly sold out)
May 7 - Vera, Groningen

All dates feature support and percussive backing from Martin Dosh.

There is the rather funny situation that next week Final Fantasy will also be performing at Paradiso. Well, it’s really only funny because back in November, when Andrew Bird was playing in Haarlem, Final Fantasy was in Amsterdam and I told everyone via the newspaper to go see Andrew Bird as he’s much better. Was that fair? I think so. They both have a very similar style currently, with both looping violins as a key part of their show. But while I love the music of Andrew Bird, I found Final Fantasy terminally boring when I saw him live - whereas the majority of the young audience had never seen anyone being creative with a violin and loop pedal before and loved it.

Well it turned out someone showed Final Fantasy the newspaper and my comments shattered his confidence ever so briefly that afternoon in Amsterdam, before the pair ended up on the same bill a week or so later and developed a civil appreciation for each other. So for them to show up so close together again is rather weird, but I’ll just leave Final Fantasy and his fans to it this time, as I don’t normally try to spread negativity when I write.

I’m not the hippest mp3 follower. I don’t check too many mp3 blogs, and I really don’t follow the scene of illegal remix albums. Therefore I only stumbled upon this Radiohead remix thing this morning by accident, while the rest of the world possibly caught on months ago. But it’s rather well executed and good fun to listen to, so if you’ve been as slow as me, here’s a link to download…

Radiohead & Panzah Zandahz - Me and This Army Remixes

A week ago I made this post about Under Byen and ended it saying, ‘with so much to offer, it just seems like you’ll be picking up new aspects on every listen.’

I wasn’t wrong. I’ve been playing the song a few times every day and I love it. So if you didn’t listen to me a week ago, listen to me now and download ‘Den her sang handler om at få det bedste ud af det‘.

A couple of days ago I got a retro craving to play Lemmings, as in the original problem solving computer game from the early 1990s. After a couple of failed attempts at running versions due to DOS compatibility problems, I did a simple search and quickly came up with the online version. So here you go. Waste some hours away…

Lemmings Online

Now, I really don’t spend time playing computer games, but a day after rediscovering that, I stumbled onto the fact that Sensible Soccer 2006 is on the way. The original Sensible Soccer was one of the most important games in my youth, and I ruled at it. So now I need to try out the new version when it’s released. They better not have messed it up.

mp3: Light Up My Life

website: http://www.persilmusic.com 

Persil, Persil, Persil, Persil, Persil! Electro-pop goodness from Amsterdam!
New album out on May 15. UK tour starting this week. If they’re playing near you, just GO! And thankfully they’re even playing a “real” venue in Glasgow this time.

In reverse order as I’m copying and pasting from their website:

17 may: Paradiso, Amsterdam
12 may: Norwich Arts Centre, Norwich (with Zea, Cthru27)
11 may: Carnegie Hall, Dunfermline (with Flying Matchstick Men, The Acute)
10 may: The Wild Boar, Aberdeen (with Zea, Popup, Saint Judes Infirmary)
9 may: Dr Browns, Middlesbrough
7 may: Adelphi, Hull (with Zea)
6 may: Royal Park Cellars, Leeds (with Zea, Ruby Tombs)
5 may: The Electric Cinema, Birmingham (with Zea)
4 may: Freebutt, Brighton (with Zex)
3 may: The Wheatsheaf, Oxford
2 may: Betsey Trotwood, London (with look look (dancing boys), Phoebe Kreutz, Dibs)
1 may: Yorkshire House, Lancaster (with Young People)
30 april: 13th Note, Glasgow (with Boy-zilla, Cnut, iamchemist)
29 april: Adelphi, Preston
28 april: Bar Fresa, Liverpool
27 april: South, Manchester (with Dressy Bessy, Fonda 500)
26 april: The Bassment, Chelmsford (with Spearmint)

Over the past five or six years I’ve clocked up a lot of airmiles with budget airlines, originally in my globetrotting gig-going days, and then obviously flying between Glasgow and Amsterdam many, many times too. Well in all that time, I can’t really think of any awful moments. Plenty of delays, admittedly, but you’ll get that with any airline. Also I’ve flown through some pretty horrible weather, which is always unpleasant, and I do remember one nasty moment when a plane landing at London Luton was caught by a strong gust of wind that tipped it up as it approached the ground, causing the wing on my side of the craft to be perilously closer to the ground than i’m sure is recommended.

But in all those years in which I’ve flown with the likes of Ryanair, Easyjet and Go (before Easyjet took them over), I can’t really think of any horrific customer service incidents that have put me off a company.

Unfortunately, in autumn 2005, Easyjet killed off the route between Glasgow and Amsterdam, which has been a real pain for me. It’s seen me travel from Rotterdam to Glasgow via ferry, train and bus on one occasion, and on another it involved flights from Glasgow to London to Amsterdam with a nasty five hour safety window in London.

So when it was announced that flyglobespan would be taking over the old Glasgow-Amsterdam route, I was pretty happy. Their prices were costlier than Easyjet, but they came with a pretty good reputation. Unfortunately, so far in 2006 they’ve been so awful that I want to swear off them completely - and that’s without even seeing one of their planes.

The first incident came from flights I had booked for February 2006. Having had the trip fully booked for about six weeks, I got an email from globespan around the beginning of January, saying they were cancelling all flights on the new route until the end of March. Not that they wanted to refund my ticket cost immediately. In fact, they were recommending I fly to Prague instead. I eventually did get my money back, cos well, it’s the law, but it was more hassle than I’d have liked.

That was annoying, but I didn’t feel completely put off. I put it down to teething problems with the new route, and once it was settled they’d be as easy as easyjet. So I booked another trip from Amsterdam to Glasgow for this summer, this time for part work and part holiday, but with very specific dates. Well, a couple of weeks ago I got this email from them…

‘We regret to advise that due to operational reasons, we have found it necessary to withdraw the Tuseday Wednesday and Saturday Glasgow/Amsterdam/Glasgow sevice from May to October .

Passangers who wish may change to either the Sunday,Monday,Thursday or Friday Glasgow/Amsterdam/Glasgow service ( subject to availability), alternatively you may claim a full refund for the cancelled flight/s.’

I was so annoyed I didn’t even initially notice the glaring typos. Nice to know they proof read their emails before sending to hundreds/thousands of customers.

I suppose it was kind of them to cancel only one of my flights, but it did completely destroy my plans.

The question now on my mind is: should they change their name to ‘no flyglobspan’ or ‘don’t flyglobespan’?

If you are hoping to travel between Amsterdam and Glasgow in the future, I can only really recommend Transavia or Easyjet. Neither are ideal - Easyjet only go to Edinburgh, so it’s more hassle when you need to get a bus afterwards, while Transavia fly to Prestwick, but are slightly more expensive. Either way, both airlines do appear to actually fly as promised and use real planes, so it can be handy to pay a little extra in the knowledge you’ll actually complete your journey.

As for Globespan, is it just this one route that’s buggered, or the whole company? Well, it’s not all bad news. The majority of their flights to sunnier holiday destinations do actually take off and land, but don’t expect them to do so at the originally booked times. So far dermophoto has had one flight moved twice, while my parents, who have two separate holidays booked for later this year have suffered time changes and some horrible customer service too. It seems to me that the company is doing all it can to just stay inside the current EU laws for airlines and passengers and no more.

Sometimes the easiest way to stumble upon a band isn’t by reading magazines or listening to the radio. Sometimes it’s better just to download some music by a band because they have a great name. It worked for me with Youngblood Brass Band because Is That a Riot has surely become my favourite album in April, and I’ve been listening to it over and over.

Here’s the basic synopsis:

‘Youngblood Brass Band is focused on creating consistently progressive, acoustic (the band is made up of 3 drummers, 5 horn players, a sousaphonist and an MC) music, employing whatever means necessary to do so.’

The result is the freshest, most purposeful hiphop I’ve heard since…I can’t remember…possibly since seeing Ozomatli live in San Francisco in 1999.

The album opens with two of the strongest tracks I’ve heard this year - ‘March’ and ‘Nuclear Summer’. They’re menacing, brutal and just soar like most bands never manage. They’re made all the better with their extreme dynamics, switching from a whisper to an explosion, all without the aid of guitars or electronics - just natural acoustic power.

Afterwards the energy levels drop slightly. I’m always partly grateful and partly disappointed, because I think another song with so much energy would kill me, but then, I always want more still. What you do get instead certainly doesn’t disappoint, however. Sometimes the songs are jazzy, sometimes they switch into instrumental Latin rhythms and bursts of carnival-style horns. Other times it’s back into the ominous hiphop vibe. ‘Waiver’ even manages to sound a bit like Fugazi without requiring a single guitar.

Put simply, Is That a Riot? is fantastic. And as great as this album is, it’s going to sound a thousand times better live, so if you ever see the name around, don’t hesitate to buy tickets.

Track 2 - ‘Nuclear Summer’ and other tracks are available to stream via piespace.

For downloadable tracks visit the official website: http://www.youngbloodbrassband.com

It’s a sign of how much I miss The Delgados that a) I’m going to produce another link to a piespace page, and b) not gonna complain about record labels and re-release politics.

See, on June 12 Chemikal Underground will release The Complete BBC Peel Sessions. The catch is, previously there was a CD of Delgados’ Peel Sessions. I know so because I’ve held it in my hands and listened to it. But I’m in no way bitter about a new version being released as it will come on two discs, and as the title suggests, it’s complete with all sessions from the beginning to the end of the band.

As a preview, ‘Mauron Chanson’ is set to stream on their piespace site (not by default though), so enjoy.

And as another sidenote, the band’s recent info email reminds us that the release date ‘coincides with the Italy vs Ghana; USA vs Czech Republic and Australia vs Japan World Cup fixtures’. Nice to know I’m not the only one who checks here when making plans for June and July.

I confess, I had never heard of Ron Mueck until this morning, but I was suitably impressed with his sculptures that I wanted to share this link given to me.

http://ziza.ru/2006/04/14/raboty-Ron-Mueck.html

mp3: Den her sang handler om at få det bedste ud af det

website: http://www.underbyen.dk

A couple of years ago I got really into Danish band Under Byen, who were signed to Excelsior in the Lowlands. I’m not sure what the status is regarding further releases here, but their new album Samme Stof Som Stof was released in Denmark in March and it seems to be as reliably good as all that’s come before it.

Scandinavian and Nordic bands do soundscape music so well - I suppose they do a lot of music well, seeing as a lot more of Northern bands are embraced around Europe than Dutch bands tend to be - but Under Byen have always been particularly special to me for their organic approach, using primarily acoustic instruments to create their layers of sound.

This free track ‘Den her sang handler om at få det bedste ud af det’ is a fascinating starting point for the new album at a mere seven and a half minutes long. It isn’t as immediately pretty as much of Det er mig der holder, but there’s so much going on - little grooves, flashes of percussion, then all giving way for piano breaks or stirring violins. Nearer the end, the mood even goes rather Steve Reich. With so much to offer, it just seems like you’ll be picking up new aspects on every listen.

Every Thursday night in Rotterdam at Lantaren/Venster, you’ll find the NuMoon Café. I’ve only actually been aware of it for a couple of months, and I’m not completely sure how I missed it before. It seems quite cool though. Running every week from 9pm, entry is free and there is a live set with no obvious stylistic boundaries.

Next week on April 13 is Audiotransparent, then on April 20 it’s Solex. Two of my favourite Dutch bands performing live in Rotterdam for free!

At the moment the schedule is only running until April 27. I’m not sure if that’s the end of the season. Either way, there’s still time to catch some good music in Rotterdam Centrum.

mp3: Out in the Black
album stream

website: http://www.killrockstars.com/bands/factsheets/imaadwasif/

I regularly receive press releases I never asked for. Mainly it doesn’t bother me, as I usually forget what it was five seconds later. Anyway, this morning I turned on the computer and was pleasantly surprised to see the name Imaad Wasif at the top of an email.

Imaad is lovely. I’ve seen him perform twice with Lou Barlow in Folk Implosion and once in his own band Alaska! He’s an amazing guitarist. When he rocks out he’ll be rolling across the floor, but he also does a lot of delicate, subtle play. His voice can be quite lovely too. Well now he has a self-titled solo album out on Kill Rock Stars. Here’s the text from the press release:

“Imaad Wasif has been in many very different bands, from Tooth & Nail’s Zao to the Unwound-ish Lowercase to the folky alaska! Currently, he’s playing guitar with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs as they wind their way through these United States. Which begs the question—Where does Imaad Wasif himself fit in all of this, and what is his personal artistic statement? No one’s better positioned to answer this than Imaad himself, so here he is: “Hey all you fuckers and contemptuous villains and grandmas too: Can you hear the soft blows of my record? This is meant for the late night vibe or the early morning fear but what do I know about setting the mood? I can be the most loveless bastard you’ve ever met or I can love you ‘til you can’t breathe, either way you choose, I will take it too far. So I give you my new solo record and every song on it is a hit . . . these are among my best and most recent compositions. Some of the things that inspired me during the time of writing these songs were Buddy Holly demos that he recorded at home in NYC shortly before his death, early Joe Meek recording ‘I Hear A New World,’ John Fahey’s ‘The Yellow Princess,’ Sylvia Plath’s Ariel poems, Truman Capote’s first book, Other Voices, Other Rooms, Swedish artist Hilma af Klint, and a collection of eastern classical instrumental records of past masters that I inherited from my father. I want to save people with music. I feel that I was born to siphon away their poisons and negative energy so that they might be happier. This has mangled me at times but I have always found something beautiful in this mode of creation. It has given me my voice.” There’s your answer.”

mp3: Big Muddy (Pete Seeger)
mp3: Alaska
mp3: Black Diamond

website: http://www.curtiseller.com

Curtis Eller is a little bid mad, but I think you need that to be a proper touring musician. Armed with a banjo and fancying a wild yodel at times, his music can be quite surreal. Then there’s the political side of him that pits his banjo plucking up against vitriolic and political lyrics. But when he’s feeling calm he also makes some exceptionally lovely bluegrass and folk music, and when you wrap it all up together you end up with a supremely entertaining performer.

So I’m quite delighted that he’s on his way back to the Netherlands and over the coming couple of weeks you can catch him at…

11 April - De Nieuwe Anita - Amsterdam
12 April - Studio Desmet - Amsterdam - Club3voor12
13 April - Patronaat - Haarlem
14 April - De Bakkerij - Castricum
15 April - De Nieuwe Anita - Amsterdam
16 April - Live in Your Livingroom - Rotterdam

The mp3s listed above are from various releases and give you a taster. But if you want samples from his last album then I’m gonna have to point you back to myhell (god help me). I honestly wouldn’t send you there if the music wasn’t worth it.

The album is called Taking Up Serpents Again and is worth checking out if you can find it anywhere. I’m just annoyed as I spent 10 minutes looking up and down my CD racks for it today and still haven’t come across it. I miss having a logical (to me) storage system.

It’s a pain when good gigs collide. Well, having already written about Vette Analoge Shit in Utrecht, another gig this coming Sunday (April 9) is the Fonal Records showcase happening at Paradiso. A Finnish label flaunting Finnish talent, there are three bands out on the road bringing Finnish free-folk and experimental ambient sounds to rooms around Europe. Is that enough mentions of Finnish for you? The bands are…

Es
Kiila
Islaja

…and I admit I find the music of all three to be completely fascinating, although I’ve no idea how to describe it. So if you feel like something different, pretty, eerie, melodious, relaxing, atonal, weird and scary, then head to the Fonal site and listen to the jukebox. The Es site also contains downloadable mp3s, but the other two sites just send you back to Fonal.

Of course, I should point out that there are other Dutch dates - Utrecht, Theater Kikker on April 8 and in Haarlem tomorrow. It’s just that Paradiso is the biggest one so came to my attention.