After doing a passable impression of Bunk and McNulty the night before, a tender ELM team have spent the day interviewing bands and now just want to hear some live music. We’ve heard good things about Y’all is Fantasy Island who open up at the Arches. Again, a strong post-rock theme emerges, with dandruff-displacing riffs and lots of effects creating a strangely uninvolving racket. The Arches is a dark venue, and when the lights go out and the band turn the feedback up, the sensation is that of sensory deprivation, which is all very interesting but not necessarily all that much fun.
Y’all is fantasy island
The issue that a band like YIFI have at this stage of their career is that they haven’t yet found their own area to inhabit and are still very much in thrall to their influences. So you catch some Godspeed You Black Emperor, some Slint and some Fall without finding out much about them. That’s not to say there aren’t moments of beauty here, like a daisy poking its head out in an industrial warehouse. Just not enough of them yet.
Next up is Sky Larkin at the Sub Club. Sky Larkin are a three piece propelled by hyperactive drumming from the splendidly named Nestor Matthews. He really is an impressive specimen of Animal-esque fills and energy and it elevates Sky Larkin above the usual trad-indie fair. Singer/guitarist Katie is very charming, and the band draw comparisons from us old fogeys in the audience with the Sundays and, erm, theaudience.
Skylarkin
Their single ‘Beeline’ was an iTunes single of the week a while back, which may help explain why they’ve managed to draw a reasonably hefty crowd in, but to be fair, they do pretty well. Although there is an element of ‘one song played eight times’ about the set. it’s certainly not one which has gone unappreciated.
But, alas, we have to use our legs and head up the not-insignificant hill along the not-insignificant walk to the Art School to catch the end of Zoey Van Goey, and glad we were too. ZVG are a band who seem most likely to emerge from Glasgow’s hipster scene and deliver something genuinely classic, much in the way Belle & Sebastian did over a decade ago. Mellifluous and charming, their songs are insanely catchy, very moving and also fun.
Zoey Van Goey
ZVG have a very open and direct stage presence which is borne of confidence in what they are doing. Which then leads us on to the next group….
What Phantom have is a sense of place, like they belong in their own context and don’t need to rely on anyone setting it for them. they describe themselves as ‘gorgeous pop-noir’ and it’s very apt. They are a very glamorous three piece, fronted by the striking Elsie and have elements of Nick Cave, especially the Birthday Party-era Cave, but with a sense of proper pop infused. Like all great bands, they make music organically; this sounds like what it sounds like, no artifice.
Phantom
Bassist Johnny is a classically trained musician and the clash between that and Elsie’s self-admitted self-trained style leads to some interesting styles. There’s a verve and, dare we say it, spunk about Phantom.
Phantom
What is a shame is that because the Art School is so isolated, they play to a much smaller crowd than they deserve. Frankly, they won’t be doing that for long. Some air-play (especially with Bat for Lashes clearing a path for dark, glamorous pop) and they won’t be playing venues this size for long.
Similarly short-changed by the crowd he plays to is the Voluntary Butler Scheme, aka Rob Jones. The VBS moniker hides his reticence to be lumbered in to that ‘songwriter’ genre, which is fair enough, but he’s as far removed from Morrison/Blunt/Rice as it is possible to be. He has a sense of humour for a start. He’s playing the Flying Duck, which is as far away from all the other venues as it is possible to be and still be in Glasgow, which has led to a sparse crowd. A more fragile ego could easily take a huff and get through it as quickly as possible, but that’s simply not his style.
The Voluntary Butler Scheme
VBS is simply a modern day take on a one man band – piano, guitar, snare/bass drum/cymbal, a loop pedal and a warm, classically British pop voice creates a series of dazzling, left-field pop songs. The word ‘quirky’ can be used to cover a multitude of sins, of songs which don’t have form or shape, but in this case it is genuinely true. He starts with a couple of new songs, piano based tunes which, in his words ‘are my Myleene Klass things’ before playing the songs he’s starting to get known for; the sublime ‘Multiplayer’ and ELM’s single of 2008, ‘Trading Things In’ (on which a few of us supply backing vocals, Badly. But God Bless crowd interaction.)
His between song banter puts to shame many bands who have been touring a lot longer than he has (possibly because he’s a witty guy who doesn’t feel the need to rehearse every little thing; lessons there for everyone) and the audience are genuinely upset when he announces he is closing with ‘Tabasco Sole, which, if their is any justice, will be the big summer single of 2009. It’s fantastic, it’s every great 45 you ever owned and it’s the closest a white man will ever get to writing a Jackson 5 song. It also contains the line ‘if you are ever start to feel down, wear a De La Soul T-shirt once in a while to make you feel more hip-hop than you are’.
In other words, it’s not just a song, it’s a way of life. If there is any justice in this cruel world of ours, then this guy will be lauded. In an increasingly samey, one dimensional world, he’s a genuine maverick, and someone who deserves your attention. Buy his album when it comes out; that’s an order.
We’d plan to leave a couple of songs early from the VBS show to get there early for Jeffrey Lewis and the Junkyard at King Tut’s, but there was no chance of that once we’d heard him play. Luckily, we arrive in time to catch the legendary American artist. We’d felt all week that putting Jeff on at Tuts was madness, as it is a great but small venue with a limited capacity and it was clear talking to everyone walking about at shows that this would be one of the hottest events; so it proves. It is insane by the third song, so much so that they finally realise this and stop people coming in. Simply put, where you are standing is where you are standing; it’s so tightly packed that further ingress and egress is an alien concept.
Jeffrey Lewis
Luckily, he is brilliant. ‘Whistle Past The Graveyard’ is delivered with venom and the new, psychedelic edges of his music comes to the fore, before a stunning piece which, frankly, only he could come up with. It is, and I kid you not, a fifteen minute exploration of the history of New York Punk. In the form of limerick. I know. Then, we get blasts of all the acts mentioned, from The Fugs to Patti Smith to Richard Hell to the Ramones.
Jeffrey Lewis, in glorious technicolour
It’s an astonishing tour de force. The one annoying thing is he is primed for an encore when he is told by the organisers he can’t do one. This is probably the biggest crowd Tuts has seen in a while; he’s brought it. Let him fucking play.
But after a stunning 45-minute set, his reputation as one of the alternative scene’s hidden gems is utterly enhanced.
The crowd disperse rather quickly, leaving the room half empty for Dinosaur Pile-Up, which is a shame as they aren’t bad at all and are maybe suffering from the audience having peaked, certainly in this venue, a little too soon. however, with crunching riffs and real purpose, they are very good at what they do. There’s an original SubPop vibe to them, and ‘Traynor’ is an excellent rock single. They’ve had a tough act to follow, and just about pulled it off.
Dinosaur Pileup
So that was Hinterland. It was exciting, a great concept and well-delivered. Yes, you could get riffed-out, but there was always something of interest on somewhere. if you didn’t like a band, you had six or seven options, there was no mud and very few hippies.
It gets our vote!
All photographs Copyright © 2009 Chris Osborne, Used with permission.
Filed under: gigs Tagged: | dinosuar pile-up, Glasgow, hinterland, jeff lewis, jeffrey lewis, live music reviews scotland, phantom, sky larkin, voluntary butler scheme, y'all is fantasy island, zoey van goey
I have downloaded a couple of Zoey Van Goey tracks on the back of your interview and really like them!!