Wolf Alice The Muni Arts Centre, Pontypridd - 21 August 2017 Support: Head Noise
Wolf Alice? At a small local arts centre in the Welsh valleys? Nope, I didn't dream it. Wolf Alice really are playing some tiny venues you've probably never heard of in the lead up to the release of the second album in September. The last time I saw them was in the tiny Cardiff venue The Globe just before they released their debut. Since then they've been all over the place playing to huge crowds around the world, doing TV and radio and have generally been adored. They've already sold out some of their larger-venue tour in October so the chance to see them again in a small space was just too much to resist. Tickets were scarce (only 200 available) and quite difficult to get but I snapped up three - one each for MrsRobster and I and one for TheMadster as the show was taking place on her 20th birthday! Two of my colleagues Neil and Pete were there too.
The Muni was saved from closure by a consortium of investors and reopened in its current form as a charitable concern in 2015. That's a good thing as it is a really nice little space, ideally suited to gigs. It was our first visit, but Neil regaled the tale about tagging along with a friend who had a free ticket to a show there once. Neil was too embarrassed at first to reveal who he'd seen, but later confessed to it being "the singer from Dr Hook." So not even Dr Hook then, just the singer...
Local bands have been given the opportunity to support during this tour and tonight was the turn of Head Noise from Cardiff. Here are three young guys who soooo desperately wish it was the 80s. The singer in particular looked like he should have been in The Goonies. He even played a bloody keytar. Sadly, they didn't do it for any of us. Maybe the excitement of the occasion was too much, maybe they had too much fizzy pop before going onstage, but they sounded shambolic and untogether. Their recordings sound a little better (even if it's not my thing at all - I never much cared for 80s synthy stuff in the 80s, I sure as hell don't like most of the 21st century derivatives) so perhaps you're better off listening to some of them over at their Bandcamp page than take my word for it. However, their attempt at covering the Chemical Brothers' Hey Boy, Hey Girl (with a verse of Get Free by the Vines woven in) was absolutely woeful. I cannot give them any benefit of any doubt whatsoever for that one!
For the record though - I LOVED The Goonies. Like, who didn't?
Wolf Alice kicked off with a new track - Don't Delete The Kisses - followed by a couple of old familiar ones before launching into the raucous (and somewhat hilariously-titled) Yuk Foo, the lead single from the new album. And that set the tone for the night really - a set of crowd pleasers interspersed with new songs, some of which hadn't been heard yet. My personal highlights were You're A Germ, Moaning Lisa Smile and Yuk Foo.
pic by TheMadster
But here's the rub - Wolf Alice are an exceptional band. They have some really good songs and make some great sounds, and live they can certainly kick into another gear and ratchet things up a level. Yet neither of the times I've seen them have they made me go 'wow'. They've not blown me away, and I think they're the kind of band who ought to. I can't explain it - and I'm certain most of the (admittedly very young) audience there were completely blown away - but I still yearn for that moment even 29 years after my very first live show. And it still does happen now and again, just not this time.
But this show does have its significance. Wolf Alice came on stage at 9:30pm. Exactly 20 years earlier at that exact time, TheMadster came onto life's great stage in the maternity unit at North Devon District Hospital. MrsRobster summed up the moment. "I just thought as they came on stage that this was the moment you dreamed of 20 years ago," she told me. "That she'd be at a gig with us and say 'I'm going in the mosh pit'." It wasn't Madster's first gig, and it wasn't even her first mosh pit, but MrsRobster (as usual) is so right. For that alone, this show will stay long in my memory.
And TheMadster herself? Well, following a day dragging her boyfriend round the shops (during which she picked up Wolf Alice's first record on vinyl), she drank vodka, joined the sweaty masses in the pit, took some photos and bought a t-shirt. Sounds like a pretty damn good birthday to me!
Here we go again then - another year in our musical paradise. But before I launch myself into full 2016 mode, here's a quick look back at what tickled my fancy in 2015.
Five albums
A lot of people - including many of my esteemed blogging compadres - have featured the likes of Wolf Alice and Courtney Barnett in their year-end lists, while some of my other big faves of the year (The Charlatans, Foals, Public Service Broadcasting, Laura Marling, Gaz Coombes and Django Django) are well-known enough for you to either already have them or at least be familiar with them. So here's five albums I rate really highly that you may have missed: CLOWwNS - 'The Artful Execution Of Macho Bimbo' Think Franz Ferdinand with more bite, more wit and more ideas. A quite frankly brilliant debut. Really need to see them live now.
Evans The Death - 'Expect Delays'
Loads of youthful energy and fun wrapped up in a loud fuzzy swathe of guitars and occasional shouting. The singer has a really good voice, too.
Myrkur - 'M' Recommended to me by my mate Dave. Norwegian indie-pop star Amalie Bruun's black metal project heavily infused with Nordic folk music. Brutal yet beautiful at the same time.
Du Blonde - 'Welcome Back To Milk' As recently mentioned in my Beth Jeans Houghton post. A radical reinvention by Ms Houghton but a most enjoyable one it has to be said, despite the awful sleeve art.
Cattle - 'Somehow Hear Songs' My next It Came From Japan post will be a shoegaze special. It won't feature Cattle as this, their debut EP, has only just come out, but it's one of the strongest records I've heard all year.
If you're wondering why there are no Welsh albums here, it's because January's Welsh Wednesdays will feature some of my fave releases of 2015 from the Land of Song.
Five gigs
As you know, MrsRobster and I have been out and about quite a bit this year, taking in some of the very finest live entertainment acts. Well, a few decent bands, anyway. Raising kids brought our gig-going habits to an almost complete standstill for a good number of years, but now the sprogsters are of a responsible age, we have been venturing out a fair bit more over the last few years. This year my aim was to reach double figures for the first time in, ooh, some 18 years or more. We did 13! Here's my Top 5.
The Charlatans (Cardiff, December)
I said: "The best band I’ve seen this year. Probably. After 25 at times challenging years, they’ve still got it, without a doubt." [full review here] Slaves / Wonk Unit / Spring King (Cardiff, November) I said: "If we're talking about the consistency in quality of the whole bill, then this was probably right up there with our best gigs of the decade so far." Godspeed You! Black Emperor (Bristol, October) I said: "Two hours of enormous, slow-building epics that not only filled the Colston Hall, but pretty likely the whole of the city." [full reviews of these shows here] Wolf Alice (Cardiff, April) I said: "They are good. Like, really bloody good. Good songs, good sound, good singer."
Super Furry Animals (Cardiff, May) I said: "A mammoth 2¼ hour set which covered all bases - the hits, album tracks, obscurities, pop songs, psychedelic wig-outs, electronic wizardry, English, Welsh - you name it, it was in there."
Laura Marling (Bristol, May) I said: " Laura's set was masterfully arranged and executed... She seems to have eschewed much of her earlier material as if to make a statement that she has been somehow reborn... The new songs made the set even more compelling." [full reviews of these shows here]
Yes, I'm fully aware that's six gigs, not five. But heck, I couldn't decide which one to drop so I broke my own rule. That's the kind of guy I am - still a rebel after all these years!
Some other things
My Kitchens Of Distinction post racking up a silly number of views after being posted on the band's Facebook page and tweeted by Patrick Fitzgerald himself.
TheMadster getting to university, the first in my and MrsRobster's immediate families to do so. And she survived freshers! Just how proud are we?!
Wales qualifying for the 2016 Euros, a massive achievement for such a tiny nation. Arguably even better than the injury-ravaged Welsh rugby team beating England in the World Cup back in the autumn.
Looking forward to:
The new Bowie album... goes without saying, doesn't it?
The new PJ Harvey album... ditto.
The new Savages album... expecting a monster.
The Lush comeback... yaay! Gigs, new songs, Miki. Yaay!
Bob Mould and Snuff in Cardiff within two days of each other. My ears will be bleeding.
I expect to make fewer posts in 2016. It has been hard work preparing four posts a week and I'm not sure I can keep it interesting enough at that rate. Hopefully the quality will compensate for the lesser quantity. We'll see. For now though, here's one more of my favourite songs of 2015 for you. A completely new sound for Emmy The Great, but an extraordinary track and a spooky, rather upsetting video.
#4: Wolf Alice The Globe, Cardiff - 1st April 2015 Support: The Magic Gang, Crows
I'd been looking forward to seeing Wolf Alice for some time. I was excited that I was going to get to see a new band on the very tip of stardom play what could be their last small venue tour before rocketing to fame. Then, two days before the show, I caught the plague.
OK, so it was just a cold, but as any self-respecting man will tell you, we get colds that feel like the black death, and this felt like one of them. Fortunately, I dosed myself up enough to drag myself along to the gig, with an ailing MrsRobster in tow. She'd been suffering with some pain over the previous week and was feeling a cold coming on herself. But she'd been to work, so she couldn't have been as bad as me. Either way, neither of us was in optimum gig-going form.
For that reason, we didn't rush to get there early. As a result we missed the opening band Crows. Many didn't though, as for a change, the Globe was pretty rammed from the off. We did see the Magic Gang (from Brighton) though. "What did you make of them?" MrsRobster asked me after their set. "Like a lightweight Weezer," came my reply. She laughed. "That's pretty much exactly what I was going to say." Talk about being on the same wavelength!
The main attraction was greeted by huge cheers from the unsurprisingly young crowd. Wolf Alice haven't even released an album yet, but their set provoked one of the most enthusiastic responses of any audience I've seen for some time. And why not - they are good. Like, really bloody good. Good songs, good sound, good singer. If I had to compare them to another band around at the moment, it would probably be the Joy Formidable (though MrsRobster heard a touch of the Sundays in there too). The only somewhat minor gripe I had is, as good a singer as Ellie Rowsell is, her stage presence needs a bit of work. I didn't quite get the energy I had hoped from her, not the energy or personality Ritzy of the Joy Formidable exudes, anyway.
The next time you get the chance to see Wolf Alice, they'll be playing major festivals and arenas. I hope they make a better job of it than Royal Blood. Personally, I think they're better in every area. Be prepared... Soundtrack:
#5: Super Furry Animals Great Hall, Cardiff University - 3rd May 2015 Support: The Magic Numbers
Question: why do people pay £30+ quid to see a legendary band play a hometown gig - their first in years - only to spend most of the show relentlessly chatting, interspersed only with trips to the bar? And they're always in front of people who - dammit - want to actually see and listen to the band! I know I'm a right misanthrope at the best of times, but jeez these morons really annoy me.
Anyway, it was a bloody horrible Sunday evening outside with some seriously heavy rain making the journey into Cardiff a little treacherous. We arrived halfway through the Magic Numbers set. Remember them? About a decade or so ago, they were being touted as one of the bands most likely to be huge as part of the so-called nu-folk movement, like a 21st Century Mamas & Papas. They enjoyed a few hit singles but then seemed to fade into obscurity. Shame because they actually played a really good-sounding set. The highlights were a song from their most recent album entitled Roy Orbison, set-closer and brilliant early hit Love Me Like You, and a track sung by keyboard player Alison (not sure of the title) showcasing what an amazing voice she has.
The Furries played a mammoth 2¼ hour set which covered all bases - the hits, album tracks, obscurities, pop songs, psychedelic wig-outs, electronic wizardry, English, Welsh - you name it, it was in there. Oh, except anything from the last two albums, which is odd. However, what they did play was never anything less than interesting. Zoom! was absolutely phenomenal, as was Run! Christian! Run! and Fire In My Heart, as sung mainly by the audience.
Joined by a trumpet/sax duo from The Barry Horns, there was nothing missing from the melting pot of madness the Furries conspired to throw at their audience. The International Language Of Screaming was welcomed with some mass la-la-la-ing; Slow Life was riddled with techno jiggery pokery, and Ice Hockey Hair was one of the most warmly received songs of the night. The lights and visuals were spectacular too, adding to the psychedelic experience.
On the downside - the venue isn't the best. It's a soulless space typical of the larger university halls. That may have contributed to the average sound quality - for much of the set it sounded like only half the drum kit had been miked up. And then there's those idiots again, who only seemed to take any notice of the band at all when Hello Sunshine was aired, no doubt just because they love the "I'm a minger / You're a minger too" line. Oh it's so frightfully amusing, Tarquin...
The annoying twats in front of us had cleared off half hour before the end (like, wtf is that all about?) so they missed out on a storming climax which concluded, as always, with a lengthy The Man Don't Give A Fuck, replete with yetis, aliens and Cian's crazy electro-frenzy interlude.
Overall, a fabulous display of everything we love about Super Furry Animals. Oh god, I wish they'd release some new stuff. Just a pity we had to tolerate all those people that we hate. They don't give a fuck about anybody else. Soundtrack:
#6: Laura Marling Colston Hall, Bristol - 5th May 2015 Support: Gil Landry
As far as I know, Laura Marling playing electric guitar has not prompted her fans to squeal "Judas!" during her shows this year, but the fact that she can properly rock has probably come as a bit of a surprise to many. Her latest album 'Short Movie' is notable for its loudness as much as the melancholy we've come to expect. There's no deterioration in quality control though.
There was another surprise for us in Bristol as she took to the stage earlier than expected - as part of the support act! Gil Landry from Louisiana is a member of the Old Crow Medicine Show, but has just released his third solo album. His set of acoustic country songs began entirely solo, but soon included a violin player, Marling's drummer and bassist and then the girl herself who duetted with Landry on Take This Body.
Laura's own set was masterfully arranged and executed. Again there was a slow build-up. A mesmerising opening suite of songs saw a gradual increase of personnel onstage as four songs from her most recent two records were interwoven into one seamless piece. Once the audience were allowed to express their appreciation through rapturous applause, the shackles were off. Out came the Rickenbacker and Laura Marling became an unlikely rock chick.
What was particularly interesting was the alternative arrangements of songs she's only just released. I Feel Your Love became swampy blues, while Strange was brash and chaotic. She also seems to have eschewed much of her earlier material as if to make a statement that she has been somehow reborn. Rambling Man and Sophia were both present and correct, but the majority of the set consisted of the new songs in whatever manner she chose to perform them. Some people hate this of course; no doubt the sort of people that went to see Super Furry Animals a couple nights before would have ranted endlessly about the one or two songs they actually knew not being played had the band decided to play new stuff. But while Devil's Spoke, Night Terror, All My Rage and Devil's Resting Place were all noticeable by their absence, I couldn't be disappointed with what Laura chose to do instead. The new songs made the set even more compelling than it might otherwise have been, False Hope especially.
That said, the real highlight for me was an oldie. Goodbye England (Covered In Snow) was beautiful, absolutely divine, spine-tingling. There was also a wonderful outing for her cover of Jackson C. Frank's Blues Run The Game, and the gorgeous Daisy, a song recorded for the new record but relegated to vinyl-only bonus track. I can see why - it's far too 60s folk to fit in with the new identity Laura's forging herself. Closing without an encore (she doesn't believe in them), she left us with the foul-mouthed title-track from said album, even louder and more brazen than the recording.
Laura Marling says very little between songs, appearing shy and self-effacing. Her music, particularly the bold, confident new songs, suggest otherwise though. There's plenty more to come, I'm sure.
One year ago today, I posted my very first article on Is This The Life? It wasn't my first blog, but I knew it would be different to others I'd attempted before. I intended it to be somewhat autobiographical, aligning my life to the music I was listening to at the time. I achieved that, but carried on regardless, posting regularly and surprisingly still having plenty of things to say.
And so here we are - one year later and 190 posts to the good. A couple of meltdowns and tantrums along the way have nearly ended the whole thing but thanks to you lot and the interest you've shown, Is This The Life? is still alive and kicking. Well, it's breathing anyway...
To celebrate this special day I'm going to post two tracks, one rather old and one newish. There's no theme or link here, I just like 'em, OK?
Wolf Alice is one of the most hotly tipped new bands of the last couple of years. MrsRobster and I will be seeing them in a couple of months on what is believed to be their last tour of small venues before they go stratospheric. Their debut album is due later in the year. Expect big things. She is a track from the 2013 EP 'Blush'.
I recently found a new barbers in Newport. It had loud reggae blaring inside so I obviously had to check it out. I got one of the neatest trims I've ever received from the Rastafarian barber. I could have stayed there for hours just for the music. One of the tracks that I remember was this take on Cat Stevens' The First Cut Is The Deepest by I Roy. It featured on his debut album in 1973 which launched a successful career for a decade. Sadly his popularity declined in the 80s during the dancehall era. Illness and homelessness plagued his later years before he passed away with heart failure in 1999 aged just 55. He left some great tunes.
That was going to be it for this post, but just before going off to bed last night, I came across this and just had to share it. His Holy Godliness Bob Mould live on Letterman on Friday night. Fuck me, can Bob rock! Amazingly incredible awesomeness to get your week started.
