live review: the hundred in the hands. the old blue last, shoreditch. 15 july 2010

last thursday evening i attended a vice magazine party at the old blue last in shoreditch. the people at vice promised us “beautiful people and bands”, but after a brief scout there was only one person that caught my eye – the only person in the room who seemed natural, not over dressed in her dead granny’s clothes, and not competing for queen of quirky amongst her fellow hoxton heroes. step forward eleanore everdell, singer, synths and all things electric and exciting in the two piece band the hundred in the hands.

eleanore, the female half of the hundred in the hands first caught my eye last year when i saw them warm up for the maccabees at the brighton great escape festival. they were pretty good back then, so i had high expectations of them a year of growth on. they’re from new yooik, and play an easy on the ear minimal avant poppy dubby electro, think the basics of crystal castles minus the screams and urge to take a load of pills and rave. more tap your foot stuff, or casually shake your hair about (as eleanore does so well). despite a few technical hitches, their set was laden with catchy pop songs from their new lp out in september such as ‘ghosts’, ‘tom tom’ and a heavier than usual version of their most popular song ‘dressed in dresden’. everdell seductively propels the songs with an ease that seems effortless and natural. in complete contrast to her minimal yet perfect effort is guitarist jason friedman who crashes around his million or so effects pedals like a moody emo teenager creating a sound that bares little resemblance to what would naturally amplify from his collection of guitars. some might say the contrast compliments their on stage sound, but i found the actions of jason a bit much. for some reason mid-set he adorned one of those silly caps that a lot of the early 20-somethings tilt on the back of their boy-in-a-band-hair these day. memories of harry enfield and kevin the teenager came flashing back. occasionally the sound created by jason was too wall-of-noise for everdell’s soft tones and any hooks or melodies seemed lost in his blaze of effects.

i liked the delivery from eleanore, i also enjoyed the knee jerking beats of their songs, but found myself increasingly aggravated by jason’s on stage, back to the crowd performance. but with a little tweak in their live sound and stage presence here, a removal of a cap there, the hundred in the hands will soon find themselves propelled to the bigger gigs and due to the law of averages, should ensure an increase in the beautiful people as wrongfully promised tonight…

words by jamie day (twitter, blog)

live review: the xx. somerset house. 13 july 2010

i’m indifferent to the xx. to me, their main purpose is to provide the bbc with background music. and for this, they serve their purpose spectacularly, particularly on bbc3 red button festival coverage. a live performance, however, is beyond them. i didn’t notice them enter the stage, nor did I see them leave. the first 20 minutes of the set was alright, i almost enjoyed their haunting, melodic, trademark sound. however, this became fucking dull. they lack charisma and stage presence. i sometimes wonder if this is a contrived move on their part to ensure they remain enigmatic and mysterious. it doesn’t work. i don’t even think (warning: in-joke) a pint of wine could have saved me! oh, and one more thing – you cannot count a pre-recorded cover of ‘you got the love’ as an encore. rip off. mind you, i thought they were on stage at this time… shows how much attention i paid.

words by emma salter

live review: grizzly bear. serpentine sessions. 28 june 2010

for the past month or more i have been praying for nice weather this week. the reason? on monday the 2010 serpentine sessions opened with grizzly bear. thank you weather gods. you delivered.

the set up of the sessions is a little strange. a sort of evening festival set up frequented by a weird mix of art students in rolled up chinos and brogues and middle aged architects, straight from the office still in their suits. this made a nice change from my more recent festival experiences of 14-year-olds experimenting with poppers for the first time. the crowd was nice. relaxed. ambient. they were there to enjoy some folk music in amongst the picnic benches and bean bags. the acts were split between two stages which seemed a little odd as no two performers overlapped. maybe the size of the big tent would have been too much for the solo stylings of manchester’s magic arm? i caught the end of him on the band stand stage along with some of the wonderful memoryhouse. the main stage opened with danish darlings eftreklang, but we were all here for one band. grizzly bear.

the 75 minute set inside the (what fast became a very sweaty) tent dipped into the back catalogue, but i was unashamably there to hear tracks from veckatimest. the band did not disappoint, opening with ‘southern point’ and ticking off singles ‘cheerleader’ and ‘two weeks’ along the way. clearly a very talented, multi instrument playing bunch they swapped guitars for flutes for one of those werd things with a big pipe bit that i’ve never really know what they are more regularly that other bands i’ve seen perform even interact with the audience. at the end of the set they came on the apologise for not playing longer, but the curfew meant they couldn’t. with the heat inside the tent, and despite the fact that i enjoyed every moment, this came as a relief. festival activity apart, apparently they won’t be back in the uk for some time. i’m very glad i got the chance to see them before this hiatus.

live review: caribou. heaven, london. 16 june 2010

having listened to caribou’s album swim since i got my hands on a copy earlier this year, i have very much anticipated seeing this 32 year old mathematics phd in action. this has no doubt been one of my favourite records of the year. it’s a mix of psychedelic pop, dance and electronica and this makes for one hell of a record.

it’s 10pm and i am in the packed out crowd in london’s heaven under the arches and along with everyone else i am waiting for the man to play the critically acclaimed music he has been making for 10 years. previously known as manitoba he plays a set list of tracks mainly consisting of songs from his latest offering swim. from hearing the crowd talking before the gig i can tell that a lot of them are here on the basis of swim alone. starting the set with sundialing from the 2008 polaris music prize winning album andorra, we get a glimpse of the former psychedelic and less ambient sound he previously made. next up are leave house and kali, this is what people are here for. the nine fantastic tracks from swim, mixing synth pop and tender vocals really get the crowd going. using two guitarists and a drummer for the live performances is where these songs really excel on a live platform . we then go back to andorra for the guitar heavy but soft vocals of melody day, this really give the audience a good chance to see just how much caribou has moved further into the dancey euphoric song making we all seem to love. we are then treated to three songs back to back from swim. The entire crowd love it as the songs get more of a psychedelic dance beat to them with the soft but sometimes haunting vocals we are accustomed to. we hear found out, bowls and the insanely cool beats of odessa, the first song on the album. and what a song it is, a funky dance beat that made what felt like the whole venue move. halfway through the song we are treated to caribou pulling out a recorder to a play a part of the song and you can see the appreciation of the crowd for the attention to detail and for not taking the easy route out of having the sound pre recorded on to a computer and simply played at the appropriate time. we then drop back to sandy from his previous album. next up is hannibal a song that feels like its building to a moment where it will blow open and really take you away. this does not happen on the album but for the live performance caribou and his band really go to town with this song. at six minutes fifteen seconds it’s already a fairly long song but they extend it and really make it a totally different experience, with caribou going from keyboard to bass to another set of drums it’s really a sound that totally blows you away. the duel drumming is fantastic to say the least. next up is the song that really got me listening to this album in the first place, the stunning jamelia. another slow builder that just keeps growing and growing, with some sharp (what sound like) violins thrown in, it really is a treat to hear this live the with the lyrics sung with what feel like real emotion. sun is the second song on the album but feels as much as an album closer (if not more) as jamelia does. this for me is my favourite song on the album. it really has a sense of a song that can take you away, it’s the perfect summer song. now on the record this is a really chilled euphoric psychedelic dance song with repeated vocals that work so perfect it really gets you in the party mood (ibiza anyone?) and i was interested to see how this will work live. it started very much with the record’s feel to the song, soft vocals but then with the live band this song comes alive. it really feels the summer dance anthem we all want, (and possibly need if dizzie rascal is to make another song with calvin harris) the drumming is intense and gives the song a great background beat for caribou and the guitarists to work around. the whole crowd is dancing and it has the feeling of a euphoric club night. it’s the perfect song to end the gig with.

everyone seems to be blown away from what they have seen and how it ended with the mesmerizing sun. caribou and his band come back for a one song encore and they play the song from his 2005 album the milk of human kindness, it’s a good little number with a real band sound and a great instrumental in the middle,  but if i’m honest i think people were still blown away from the fantastic spectacle that was sun. this was one of the best live performances i have seen in quite a while and if you get the chance to see caribou i advise you to take that.

caribou has just announced a uk tour for the end of year and will be playing london, manchester, glasgow, leeds and many more.

additionally he has been announced to play a night curated by four tet at the the coronet theatre on old kent road, london in november.

-words by kris maher-