If you aren't familiar with Current 93, specifically the solemn and bizarre nature of their apocalyptic folk music I don't know how to convey how weird the idea of someone doing a hot electro remix of one of their tracks is. Of course, who better to take the title track from c93's excellent 2006 album Black Ships ate the Sky and turn it into a hot dancefloor mess then ol' Jim Thirlwell, aka Foetus, aka Foetus Interruptues, aka you've got Foetus on your breath, aka Scraping Foetus off the Wheel, aka about a million other variations of the word "foetus". Not content to be producing his own tunes as well as soundtracking the best show on TV (*pssst* it's The Venture Brothers), apparently ol' JG took some time out of his busy schedule to throw together a Current 93 remix 12" with those wacky kids in Matmos entitled Black Ships Heat the Dancefloor. It's a pretty sweet mix, with nice use of middle eastern instrumentation, a thumpin electro beat and David Tibet's notoriously love 'em or hate 'em vocals vocodered up hella robotical style. Check the video out, interpretive dance and Tibet looking particularly eurotrashy.
Current 93 - Black Ships ate the Sky (JG Thirlwell mix)
And for a standard of comparison, the original track:
There is nothing quite like going to a goth concert on the Sabbath. Ohgr was performing at the Red Room on Sunday November 23rd, and after patiently waiting for this moment, hundreds of Vancouver's spookiest all made an appearance to pay tribute to some of the former members of Skinny Puppy. I was late, as usual, arriving to the venue amongst a sea of black, sometimes I wonder how I manage to find my circle of friends when we are all camouflaged in the dim lights. To an outsider, it would look like a cult meeting, or a ritualistic sacrifice was about to take place since we were all dressed in a uniform of stompy boots and industrial gear, but really it was just a roomful of anarchists who wanted to tear the place down.
Ogre's live performances remain the high water mark for lead singers in our corner of the pool. As I realised when I was able to see him live for the first time on the "Greater Wrong of The Right" tour, it's one thing to watch the video of "Ain't It Dead Yet", to read about the effect of Ogre's elaborate costuming at shows, to have it pointed out to you that everyone in the business has jacked his style at one time or another - it's another thing entirely to viscerally experience it for yourself. The man is at home on a stage from the moment he steps onto it, and never ceases to be in the midst of some grotesque pantomime from that point onward: part butoh artist, part court jester. On that note, our hometown boy was looking damn lithe and spry for someone pushing fifty.
Ohgr graced the stage in a backwards bodysuit which made us think he was singing through an alien mask, however looking at his hands you could see that they were facing the wrong direction and this mask was on the back of his head. In typical Ohgr-style, he slowly removed layers of this costume throughout the show, turning into a freaky-looking mime, and then removing that mask to reveal a face like Heath Ledger's as the Joker in Batman. What most intrigued me about Ohgr's performance was not the experimental sound to his latest CD, but the grace with which he moved his hands and the crazed look on his face while he did so, it was like watching a freak show clown try to seduce you. And in some sick way, I was completely mesmerized.
Being someone who loves to rip it up on the dance floor on any given night, I was super stoked to hear the last few songs Ohgr played, "Cracker" and "Water". The fans gave so much love to the band as they rocked the venue, I swear I almost saw a tear in Nivek's eyes near the end of the night, because he looked thrilled to be doing a live show after all these years. He made several shoutouts to other local musicians including Bill Leeb from Frontline Assembly, who I spied in the audience.
As mentioned in Rob Kukuchka's guest review of "Devil In My Details", the new ohGr album is both decidedly darker and dirtier than either of its predecessors, or even the two post-reunion Skinny Puppy albums, for that matter. As such, it was a shock to hear just how emotive and even plaintive the songs from "Devil In My Details" could be when presented in a stripped-down live environment, with little in the way of backing tracks.
Now that I have had the opportunity to listen to Ohgr's newest CD at a live venue, I am definitely feeling more encouraged to pick it up even though it sounds more experimental than I usually care for.
The Commodore was sold out on Tuesday night for the return of Franz Ferdinand. The Scottish boys took to the stage and immediately brought the energy making the crowded venue scream. It was a simple show with no extra props, guest appearances, or special stage setup, just a couple of dudes with guitars and a wicked sound system with a few cool lights from the venue thrown into the mix.
The sound was amazing. I don’t know if this was because the last live show I saw was such a huge disappointment, but Alex’s voice sounded exactly like it did on the CD. This actually frightened me at the beginning of their set, only because it sounded good enough to be lip-synched. However, as the show progressed, my assumptions were corrected as the extendo-remixes of a few of the songs and a few off-key notes by the front man proved to me that this was the real deal. Even more exciting though, was Mr. Kapranos’ stage dive during the last song of the night “This Fire” while still playing guitar!
I wasn’t sure if one of the girls near us had her headphones on and was secretly rocking out to something completely different because she was moving in all kinds of strange directions that were off beat and bizarre. I am not sure if it was her interpretation of “Take Me Out” or if perhaps someone slipped a little E into her drink and she didn’t know it yet. Either way, she kept our table quite entertained when we weren’t singing along and clapping our hands.
Franz Ferdinand sang a good mix of their first and second CDs, with a new one due out at the end of next month. I have to admit I was a little surprised when they played “Take Me Out” and “Do You Want To” before the end of the show. I thought for sure they would save one of those for the encore, but instead they gave us big hits like that throughout the show, as well as “Michael” and “The Dark of the Matinee.” The boys from Scotland proved to us that you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on a fancy stage setup; all you have to do is come out and play your heart out.
I guess you can still call them The Sisters of Mercy even though there are only two original members, and that would be including Doktor Avalanche as one of them. The only remaining "sister" is Andrew Eldritch, who has been the frontman of the band since its conception in 1980.
Now that the band (Eldritch) has refused to release any new CDs, the only income he is getting from the band is from touring. The Sisters surprised us with another tour, which landed in Vancouver on Monday night after their last show here in March of 2006. I swore after the last show I wouldn't bother seeing them live again, but after a few drinks on the weekend and a comp ticket, how could I refuse?
For denying their gothic roots, The Sisters, put on a show that was dark and macarbre, and although Mr. Eldritch would like to prove to his fans that he is a rock star, the sunglasses he sported in the darkness of the nightclub proved otherwise. I was about three people from the front of the stage but due to the low light levels, and the heavy fog being dispensed, I was unable to get a decent photo on my camera because it was far too dark, and the flash only reflected in the fog. Only a goth would wear sunglasses to a live show this dimly lit. Andrew also sported the brightest neon yellow shirt I have ever seen, to again remind us that he is a rock star, not a black-wearing poet who has a voice deeper than the graves his fans dig for their myspace photoshoots.
A few other fans who were close enough to heckle the Sisters yelled out comments to turn the music up, and rightfully so, as you could barely hear the vocals that when played on your home stereo were melancholy enough to give you the shivers. However, our dear un-goth friend Andrew is either too old, or just a total jerk when dealing with fans, since he told us that if we wanted it louder we should go stand in front of one of the speakers since we must be deaf. I guess he really must be a rock star with an attitude like that. Mr. Eldritch carried on to play some of their big hits like "Dominion" "Lucretia My Reflection" and "Marion" which kept the crowd happy in any case.
I will give credit to the fact that there were definetley more people at this show than the previous one, however that could be related to the fact that the Ohgr show was the day before, so a alot of people may have come in from out of town for that and just stayed the extra day. This is my theory since I doubt there were that many people raving about the show the last time they came around.
So, after almost five years of relative silence, The mighty Prodigy have announced that they'll be releasing their new album in March of 2009. And to that end, they're giving away the first single "Invaders Must Die" on their website. And...uhm... it's not very good. At best, the track comes off as a second rate Pendulum rip-off. Pendulum themselves were actually responsible for the most banging Prodigy track since "Smack My Bitch Up" when they remixed "Voodoo People" for the Prodigy's Their Law singles compilation. Of course that remix was four years ago, and Pendulum have since moved on soundwise to doing some less good but at least still fun rock-oriented Drum n' Bass. So yeah, the Prodigy sound doubly out of ideas here, as they jack a sound from another artist who've already moved on from it, and don't even do a particularly convincing job of it. I'll cop the album when it comes out undoubtedly, but this ain't exactly filling me with confidence.
The Prodigy, "Invaders Must Die"
Super Bonus Video: Prodigy - Voodoo People (Pendulum remix)
Ascii.Disko's always been a bit touch n' go for me. Daniel Holc can pitch the odd quirky synthpop screwball, but he can also fall into an electro-by-numbers rut (as was the case when we peeped him at Kinetik) which, while not unpleasant, certainly doesn't reinvent the wheel, or stick trading cards to its spokes for that matter.
So, when I started doing some digging on Black Orchid, the name that was credited with crafting "Horizon", a delightfully dour tune about admiring a loved one's sleeping face in the pale blue cast of dawn that jumped out at me from an otherwise so-so compilation, I was (pleasantly) surprised to learn that Black Orchid is actually Holc's new side-project, which sees him returning to his post-punk roots. Further digging revealed that while a full-length Black Orchid album, "From Airlines To Lifelines", has been recorded, it's been cast into limbo by label drama (said digging also revealed that Holc evidently wasn't loving Final Scratch).
In the meantime, enjoy "Horizon". It's a pretty little thing which calls to mind a more sedate version of The Sound, or perhaps a less overwrought version of The Wake. Best not combine the two and produce a waking sound, lest Holc's dozing muse starts yawning and fumbling for her slippers, ruining the whole picturesque scene. (sorry)
I've generally enjoyed both Dresden Dolls CDs, and was thinking about picking up frontwoman Amanda Palmer's debut solo disc in anticipation of checking out her show when she rolls through Van in about a week's time...
...Until today, when I got word that Amanda's parted ways with label Roadrunner in response to their refusal to promote her (dope) new video. Take a look for yourself and see if you can spot the problem that Roadrunner had with it:
Well? Isn't it obvious? Weren't you roundly disgusted by all of the belly fat that Amanda was showing? I mean, look at the video at 4:11! There's an actual crease in her stomach, for cripes sake! Wouldn't you think it was entirely reasonable to ask Palmer to re-edit the video so that viewers with the sexual maturity of nine year-old glue-eaters could be spared the sight of a woman who doesn't look as though a stiff gust of wind might break her spine?
What's that? You wouldn't? You'd call that a pathetic pile of sexist double-standard bullshit from a label that's had no qualms about promoting material from gentlemen of the more corpulent persuasion like Ian Astbury and Dino Cazares? Well, you wouldn't be alone. Palmer fans have united in forming a Rebellyon which will be forwarding pictures of their own bellies to Roadrunner (pithy messages written in Sharpie 'round said bellies are optional) for the foreseeable future.
I'm holding off buying "Who Killed Amanda Palmer" until I can do so at the show - sure I'll have to wait a bit but there's a better chance of more of my cash going to Amanda's pocket and staying out of Roadrunner's. I've bought plenty of CDs from Roadrunner in the past, and I'm not saying I never will again (although a mea culpa from them at this point couldn't hurt), but let's just say that I can easily find alternate uses for my entertainment dollar in these economically tight times.
Shit like this is why my head feels like exploding when people claim that "sexism is over" or that they "don't get" feminism.
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