sadly, it has been a rather slow month for my own glasswerk activities.
and i think most of it can be attributed to the recent departure of an editor that during has tenure had managed to keep on top of mailing out promos and weeding out the type of music that was distinctly appealling to my eclectic tastes.
since his leaving, there have been no more care packages of dizzyingly bizarre CDs dropping through my letterbox, there have been no more opportunities for live reviews, and even my recounting of Crystal Fighters outstanding performance at Shepherds Bush Empire, which i arranged myself, never did make it onto the glasswerk website, so i took the liberty of posting it up earlier in september for my own readers.
meaning there are just two reviews to point you in the direction of.
first up was Gazelle Twin's surreal set-piece at an old metal works building in Islington. The album launched at the show is a magnificent long-player displaying otherwordly qualities, how would this rich and vastly textured music translate live?
find out what i thought in my review.
Gazelle Twin live review here.
and the second review is a different take on my review of The Others live return, that has already been discussed on the pages of Seeking Susan Boyle. You may notice a couple of similarities between the articles, but i do strive to give a different and slightly more impartial stance for my glasswerk piece.
The Others live review here.
and that is it i'm afraid, and unless things take a sudden and drastic change for the better, i wouldn't hold out too much hope for a review roundup at all covering october.
Showing posts with label The Others. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Others. Show all posts
Sunday, 2 October 2011
Monday, 26 September 2011
The Others: Live @ The Lexington
It had been something like seven years since I had first seen The Others.
It has been six years since the release of their eponymous debut album in January 2005, five years since their second, and last album to date, followed just 18 months later and it has been four years since I last saw them live at Camden's Proud Galleries, whilst a little known Liverpudlian band called The Wombats were supporting.
The Others crashed onto a music scene in an age still basking in the reflected glow of The Libertines swiftly peaking upwards trajectory.
When Alan McGee would have swooped on any band that had ever had the fortune to share a pint with Pete Doherty, when 7" singles enjoyed a renaissance, and if the vinyl didn't appeal, then you could still pick it up on CD from your local HMV.
When Alan McGee would have swooped on any band that had ever had the fortune to share a pint with Pete Doherty, when 7" singles enjoyed a renaissance, and if the vinyl didn't appeal, then you could still pick it up on CD from your local HMV.
It was during these glory years that I spent my 21st birthday in Hyde Park with my friends, vodka, The Others and a bunch of assorted fans, groupies and hangers-on.
They had just played one of their much celebrated 'guerilla gigs', ramshackle affairs planned and spread via online forums, in the foyer of a BBC radio station in Great Portland Street, before decamping to the central London park for a second ad-hoc performance that saw the bassist playing whilst up a tree.
In a few short years I developed a taste for dodgy east-end venues, crowd surfing and stage diving, and gig-going was an at least weekly occurrence.
My, how times change.
Now, aged 28 my disposable income has been greatly reduced by household bills and a mortgage, my ears are damaged by tinnitus and the gigs attended are a lot more selective.
But I just couldn't resist The Other's recent live return.
Taking to the stage at The Lexington in Islington with a wealth of old favourites that soon saw me in thick of things, moshing with the best of them, alongside fans pogo-ing to songs that still bring back memories and still manage to unite people, despite all the years that have passed and the band's own falling out of favour with a fickle music press.
New tracks that the reunited band have been working on slotted right alongside the old standards, reminding us that they have away with a chorus that is distinctly recognisable as their own.
And even after all this time, I still couldn't resist the traditional stage invasion that accompanies the last song of the set, when the band become lost onstage amongst revellers and soon enough the drum-kit is fighting for space, and it felt like just like the old days again as The Others brought proceedings to a chaotically-joyfull, sweat-drenched close.
They had just played one of their much celebrated 'guerilla gigs', ramshackle affairs planned and spread via online forums, in the foyer of a BBC radio station in Great Portland Street, before decamping to the central London park for a second ad-hoc performance that saw the bassist playing whilst up a tree.
In a few short years I developed a taste for dodgy east-end venues, crowd surfing and stage diving, and gig-going was an at least weekly occurrence.
My, how times change.
Now, aged 28 my disposable income has been greatly reduced by household bills and a mortgage, my ears are damaged by tinnitus and the gigs attended are a lot more selective.
But I just couldn't resist The Other's recent live return.
Taking to the stage at The Lexington in Islington with a wealth of old favourites that soon saw me in thick of things, moshing with the best of them, alongside fans pogo-ing to songs that still bring back memories and still manage to unite people, despite all the years that have passed and the band's own falling out of favour with a fickle music press.
New tracks that the reunited band have been working on slotted right alongside the old standards, reminding us that they have away with a chorus that is distinctly recognisable as their own.
And even after all this time, I still couldn't resist the traditional stage invasion that accompanies the last song of the set, when the band become lost onstage amongst revellers and soon enough the drum-kit is fighting for space, and it felt like just like the old days again as The Others brought proceedings to a chaotically-joyfull, sweat-drenched close.
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