Mogwai Is Howling In The Casino

Mogwai live @ Paris again. Why not? Waited the last day to decide myself, bought a ticket during lunch time - it was not completely sold out –, choose a balcony seat, first row on the right. When I arrived at the Casino de Paris at 8 o'clock, The Twilight Sad was already playing. From outside the room, the music was quite attractive, but the guys from Glasgow left the stage greeted only with polite applause. No encore.
At 9, the Casino de Paris, an old prestigious cabaret like The Moulin Rouge, was totally filled and ready to welcome Mogwai. I guess I saw them each time they came to Paris since 2001. I think they have improved their set; the lights now are an important actor of the scenery and give the songs not only colors but also strengths. But overall, despite few amazing moments – no The Sun Smells Too Loud, the best song from The Hawk Is Howling, too sad… -, Mogwai on stage are now too technical to give me some thrills like seven years ago. At that time, during the encore after a perfect set, Mogwai was fighting with the French venue to be able to play as loud as possible; they had to stop the show and promised to never come back again to that f... country. Yesterday they were less loud, more polite and thanked the crowd several times for coming.

Web: fat-cat.co.uk/fatcat/artist/the+twilight+sad
MySpace: myspace.com/thetwilightsad

Web: mogwai.co.uk
MySpace: myspace.com/mogwai
Label: matadorrecords.com

Mogwai - Stanley Kubrick .mp3 (2001-05-14 - Café de la Danse)
Mogwai - The Sun Smells Too Loud .mp3
Mogwai - Wake Up And Go Beserk .mp3 via My Old Kentucky
Mogwai - Auto Rock (errors remix) .mp3

Photo: Leaky Sparrow – Mogwai – Casino de Paris, Paris – October 28, 2008 (more pictures here)

The Uglysuit

2008 brought us some fresh and sunny musics coming from young bands who believe in letting it all hang out: Fleet Foxes, MGMT and The Uglysuit.
Made up of six friends from Oklahoma City ranging in age from 20-23, The Uglysuit brings a different mentality to what they do - fresh, infectious, atmospheric sound close to the West Coast psych. What’s most attractive about The Uglysuit and their self-titled record is their ability to infuse their music with the same kind of enthusiasm that you imagine informs their outlook on life. The album released last August has some tasty piano, Bird’s House and Elliot Travels, and fiery electric-goes-to-hell guitar works, Happy Yellow Rainbow. It ends perfectly with the thoughtful, elegiac Let It Be Known. Good pacing and nice production touches help make The Uglysuit a real find.

MySpace: myspace.com/theuglysuit
Label: touchandgorecords.com

The Uglysuit - Chicago .mp3

Bonus: Ladyslipper - Chicago .mp3
Ryan Adams - Dear -Chicago.mp3
The Replacements - Route 66 .mp3

Swell & (swell) - Live @ La Maroquinerie

David Freel known for his unique songwriting returned to Paris last Friday at La Maroquinerie for a long awaited performance. I don't know if it was for Emily Jane White or for Swell or for both but the show was sold out since weeks. It was the first Swell show since their Whenever Your Ready tour in May 2004 - I was there too - but I don't recall anything from the show at the Café de la Danse, maybe I was much more concentrate on something else that evening...
What I like on Swell studio records is the “embellishment” around the languorous rhythm proposed by the voice of David Freel and his acoustic guitar. On stage the songs of course are much rawer and direct. Where you lose nuances, you gain strength. The drums are in the middle of the stage, in the light, David Freel stands on the left facing the audience, but in the shade. The show lasted more than an hour. Many songs for me were new coming from the last two releases so sometimes I was a little confused.
I wish to encourage anyone to go to a Swell show with one little advice, listen to them before (just to have a first idea of what you will discover on stage). The band is touring in Europe until mid-November, mainly in Germany. Swell - or (swell) - is great and you won’t have so many opportunities to have the chance to see them live again. So, please do go.

Web: swellsongs.com
MySpace: swellthelostalbum or swelltheoriginalone

Swell - Next To Nothing .mp3

Photo: Leaky Sparrow – Swell – La Maroquinerie, Paris – October 17, 2008 (more pictures on flickr.com)

Emily Jane White - Live @ La Maroquinerie

Six months after her first visit to Paris last April during the LFSM Festival, Emily Jane White came back to the City of Light to promote her debut album Dark Undercoat. Before saying a few words about yesterday’s show, I would like to confirm that Dark Undercoat is still a great record after repeated listening and that I am almost convinced it will be amongst my 10 best albums of 2008.
Once more, a great evening at La Maroquinerie last Friday evening: Jonquil from Oxford, UK, opened with a very tonic set, Emily Jane White followed for an hour or so and (Swell) brought us to almost midnight for a very much expected show (a review will follow on LS).
Let’s talk first about Emily Jane White. Between April and now, she really improved her show. She looks more confident now in front of the audience backed by two more strings musicians on her right that set her much more secure in the middle of the stage. She played most of the best tunes from Dark Undercoat and offered to a very quiet audience few of her new songs like Victorian who makes me think that she will surprise us again with her new CD. Like I said, the audience was so concentrate on every note played by the young lady of San Francisco and her friends that the band was almost scared and wondering were where the usual distracting noises and so on… Emily Jane, the rule in Paris is: listen very very carefully, analyse, and then after – only after – create a “buzz” or not. I guess in your case, if they very carefully listened to you, it means that it was positive.

Web: emilyjanewhite.com
MySpace: myspace.com/emilyjanewhite
Label: Double Negative Records
Read on Leaky Sparrow: Dear Emily Jane White and Emily Jane White - live @ Paris (LFSM Festival)

Emily Jane White - Hole In The Middle .mp3
Emily Jane White - Wild Tigers I Have Known .mp3
Diamond Star Halos - They Were Close To Me - To The Sea.mp3

Extra – Jonquil: myspace.com/jonquiluk

Jonquil - Whistle Low .mp3
Jonquil - Sudden Sun .mp3 via Anyone’s Guess

Photo: Leaky Sparrow - Emily Jane White - La Maroquinerie, Paris - October 17, 2008 (more pictures on flickr.com)

Hobotalk - Alone Again Or

Alone Again Or is the opening track of Love's genuine classic Forever Changes (1967) (not Young...). It was written by band member Bryan MacLean was also do the vocals - not Arthur Lee – and was covered by people like The Damned, The Boo Radleys, Calexico, Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs...
Singer-songwriter Marc Pilley is not alone, together with guitar-player Ross Edmond, Al Denholm (Bass) and Iain Bruce (Drums), he founded Hobotalk in the late 1990s. The band (with new members around him now) just released their fourth album called Alone Again Or few weeks ago.
If the title of the album has nothing to do with the song mentioned above, I guess Hobotalk won't disagree if I state Love as one of his major influences, like The Band, mainly during the first electric part of the CD (even if Hobo Chang Ha reminds me of Captain Beefheart). The second part of the cd called The Acoustic Morn is more in the vein of artist like Vetiver, to mane only contemporary musicians.
Let's stop here all comparisons. Hobotalk can survive alone (again). His light production backed on two songs by the beautiful vocals (Jake Cogan, Amanda Lyon) gave to his folk-rock melodies enough invention and characters to satisfy the legions of listeners that Hobotalk ought to reach.
Hobotalk, Scotland, have signed with Glitterhouse Records to release in Europe. They will be playing an extensive tour in Europe in support of the release. Dates and music below:
Web: hobotalk.com/home.html
MySpace: myspace.com/marcpilley
Label: Glitterhouse Records

Hobotalk - Walks .mp3
Hobotalk - Letter From A Friend (Live) .mp3
Hobotalk - In The Arms Of Love .mp3

Bonus:
Love - Alone Again Or .mp3
Calexico - Alone Again Or .mp3 via Better Propaganda
Boo Radleys - Alone Again Or .mp3 via Chromewaves

I Ran For Miles

I know, you may think that I’m pretty “lazy” these days… it’s because I’ve been away for a while, was “six days on the road”. In Köln (Cologne) to be precise, where I ran the marathon, I “ran for miles”. Believe me it was quite difficult: the distance, the cold, the wind and the rain. Anyway, I finished and most of all I was with one of the “unknown legends” who encouraged me so much. ‘Cause “only love can break your heart”.

Sorry, for this strange post with lots of codes…
Know that I listened to a lot of music too, so I will come back pretty soon to share with you some of my latest discoveries.

Mark Kozelek - Lazy .mp3
Gram Parsons - Six Days On The Road .mp3
Gemma Hayes - Ran For Miles (Home Demo) .mp3
Kathleen Edwards - Unknown Legend .mp3
Neil Young & Paul McCartney - Only Love Can Break Your Heart .mp3

Photo: Joe (Flickr.com)