Dark Was the Night

By an unexpected chance of fortune I have Dark Was the Night compilation which was meant to be released on the 16th February. However, if you ask the nice people at Rough Trade they will happily give you one in advance, because that’s what happened with me today.

I asked for the CD not because I’m cheeky, but rather I got a tip-off that it existed today and as I need a lot of help when I’m in Rough Trade asked the person who was busily running about getting me the Alele Diane album. I would love to say I bought it straight off knowing all about the charitable nature behind the double disc compilation, but all I knew was that it was a charity related release and had Tightrope by Yeasayer on it as well as tracks from Bon Iver and the New Pornographers. Does that make me terrible? Possibly, but now I’ve read up on it, I can say I would have bought it for the principles behind it as well as its contents.

Dark Was the Night is organised by The Red Hot Organisation that raises awareness for AIDS as well as donating proceeds from artistic projects to research and education campaigns related to the condition.  Sometimes it is easy to become cynical about HIV and AIDS campaigns because I would have hoped after 20 years of them people might know the basics, but even in Western and so called ‘educated’ societies there is still some ignorance and stigma that needs to be stamped out. Red Hot Organisation attempts to bring HIV and AIDS into the public domain while trying to distance itself from the conventional, they argue inefficient, media channels. Which is good, because discussion helps people understand therefore hopefully encourage progress in research and programs to tackle the disease.

As to the compilation, there is a good range of artists whom I like contributing exclusive tracks, see here for a full track listings. I was disappointed with the Yeasayer track because I guess I was expecting a version similar to that on the Blogoteque, and people have said the disc version hasn’t been mixed as well as it could have been, which makes me hope that should it be released on an EP or album it sounds better. Which brings me to some past loves, The New Pornographers were great, but their last album left something to be desired in comparison to the the releases like Mass Romantic. Their song on the compilation, Hey Snow White, a cover of one of Dan Bejar’s songs (a member of the New Pornographers) isn’t that inspiring and I am told the original (which is true of all of their covers) is much better. Likewise I liked Arcarde Fire’s first album and EP but never really clicked in with later releases to the point where I recognise their voices but don’t enjoy listening. However, leaving aside laments of times passed, Brackett, WI by Bon Iver is wonderful as is expected of Bon Iver. The slight problem with compilations is that I’m not always certain who I’m listening to, and as I’m holed up in the library at the moment, I feel bad for keeping on checking the artists instead of Cdks but I definately prefer the first disc, but that might be due to more generalised familiarity of the artists.

Anyway, go out and buy it, even you only like a few of the tracks, its for charity, and don’t let me catch you whoring it form the internet, because that is more terrible than buying it for just the music – you might also hear some new artists, and you get to hear Tightrope, which I still like because I’ve heard what it can be…

Filed under: Articles, Arcade Fire, Beirut, bon iver, Dark Was The Night, MANY OTHERS, Red Hot Organisation, The New Pornographers, Yeasayer

Upset the Rhymn – Indian Jewelry & These Are Powers

I again travelled to Barden’s Boudoir, only this time I went alone and cycled through the rain with a cumbersome pannier full of notes. Which was foolish and made me feel somewhat unreceptive especially to the band I caught the tail end of, however These Are Powers’ energy reinnovated me into a much better mood for Indian Jewelry.

These Are Powers are a Chicago-Brooklyn group were playing their first UK gig and they were good: Pat Noecker, previously of Liars, wielded his bass-‘axe’ a lot like an axe which I found oddly endearing but that was probably due to Bill Salas (a.k.a Brenmar) and him knocking out great bass and percussions while Anna Barie high kicked, tamborined and sung about. Bill joined the band 8 months into its existence after a former drummer left, on the night he was wearing a red beanie which looked a lot like the hats worn by Steve Zissou’s sub-aqua team, Bill acknowledged the reference but said he hadn’t been thinking of that when he bought the hat, he also said that should he have special powers he’d have invisibility and mainly use it for good with some pranks as well. Everyone always chooses invisibility.

At first they reminded me a bit of Crystal Castles, only less 8 bit electro and more good, so not really much like Crystal Castles at all, but they did have a high kicking female who was energetic about the stage, so that is about where the comparison ends.

The crowd seemed more receptive to them they did Indian Jewelry but this seemed to be mainly due to Indian Jewelry digging them from the crowd, I hope this improves because I enjoyed them and should I see them again I don’t want to have to be spazzing out at the front on my own in the hope someone might join in…

Before I had a chance to chat with anyone else from the band Indian Jewelry came on and so I quickly found a cubby hole and put my pannier there in the hope that no one would want to steal my notes.

I did not know much about Indian Jewelry other than they were highly recommended, and they did not disappoint.

Filed under: Gigs, Beirut, Indian Jewelry, live, These Are Powers, Upset the Rhythm