Le Rayon Vert

Not sure if there’s an official announcement yet, but it looks like Jandek will play in Adelaide on March 28. Liveguide lists an Australian tour, but just with dates & states, on the Mess & Noise forums Melvo says it’s at the Gov with the Primitive Calculators. If it is true then well done to Heathen Skulls for being a tour promoter that brings artists to Adelaide, last year they were responsible for the Lightning Bolt tour.

Here is the info from their website:

Hailing from Houston, Texas, Jandek is the musical project of an outsider musician whose name and identity has been a mystery for over 30 years. Since 1978, Jandek has self-released over 60 albums of dissonant and often emotionally dissolute folk / blues through his label Corwood Industries.

Jandek often plays a highly idiosyncratic and frequently atonal form of folk and blues, that border very closely on the avant-garde. Refusing to use any form of traditionalism with structure, chords and tuning, Jandek has created a stylized form of music that is entirely his own. Lyrically he mirrors the country blues and folk traditions of East Texas, but sonically, he’s in a league of his own.

In 2004, a documentary was released entitled ‘Jandek on Corwood’. It documented Jandek’s recorded history and the people that have had contact with him, which is not many as he had never played live and only granted one interview, and that was back in 1985. Up until 2004 no one was certain of his identity.

The mystery of Jandek’s identity was unveiled in October 2004 when he appeared for the first time live at the 04 Music Festival in Glasgow, Scotland. He has since made a number of live appearances at festivals like All Tomorrow’s Parties, Pitchfork and SXSW.

Up until 2009, Jandek’s backing band consisted of musicians from bands such as Tortoise, Grails, Quasi and Grouper - his backing band changed for each performance, depending on who was available at the time. In 2009 he settled on a permanent rhythm section from Glasgow, Scotland, which consists of Volcanic Tongue Records owner and WIRE contributor David Keenan (Drums), and his partner Heather Leigh Murray.

Heathen Skulls is very proud to present for the first time in Australia, JANDEK!

Coming up this Friday is the Laneway Festival. Gates open at 2pm. I’m keen to see Eddy Current Suppression Ring & The XX in particular, but there’s quite a few acts I know very little about so I’m keen on checking out some new music.

Also, coming up on the following Friday (Feb 12th) I’ll be doing a DJ set at the Metro with a post-punk theme.

FEBRUARY

• 5th Laneway Festival with Echo & The Bunnymen, Eddy Current Suppression Ring and lots more.
• 6th Steering By Stars at the Ed Castle with Red Ink.
• 11th RZA at Fowler’s Live.
• 12th Le Rayon Vert DJ Set at the Metro.
• 13th Avant Gardeners at the Metro.
• 13th Satan’s Cheerleaders at Higher Ground.
• 19th Yo La Tengo at Fowler’s Live.
• 20th Steering By Stars, Sincerely Grizzly at the Jade Monkey.
• 23rd Brian Jonestown Massacre at Fowlers.
• 25th Steering By Stars at the Ed Castle.
• 26th Satan’s Cheerleaders at the Crown & Anchor.
• 26th Hit the Jackpot at Supermild.
• 27th London Sinfonietta: Pacific Currents at the Adelaide Town Hall.
• 28th London Sinfonietta: Wind & Glass at the Adelaide Town Hall.

MARCH

• 5-8th WOMADelaide at Botanic Park with the Skatalites, Calexico, Ravi Shankar, Dean & Britta, Ethiopiques and lots more.
• 6th Wayne Shorter Quartet at the Festival Theatre.
• 7th The Necks at the Spiegeltent.
• 7th Pavement at Thebby
• 12th Robert Forster is the guest at Julia Zemiro’s Comfort Zone in the Spiegeltent.
• 13th Dinosaur Jr at Fowlers Live.
• 13th Hit the Jackpot with Naked on the Vague at the Metro.
• 18th Raekwon at HQ.
• 21st Massive Attack at the Entertainment Centre.
• 24th The Pixies at Thebby (playing Doolittle)
• 28th Jandek with the Primitive Calculators at the Gov ? (TBC)

APRIL

• 16th Mountain Goats at Fowler’s Live.

On the Stereo

• Public Image Ltd – Second Edition 2LP (Virgin)
• Public Image Ltd – Flowers of Romance LP (Warner Bros)
• Siouxsie and the Banshees – Once Upon A Time: The Singles LP (Polydor)
• The Cure – Faith LP (7)
• The Fall – The Wonderful & Frightning World of … LP (PVC)
• The Slits – Cut LP (Island)
• The Raincoats – s/t LP (Rough Trade)
• Laughing Clowns – Live: Prince Melon Bootleg series Volume 8 cd (Prince Melon)
• Laughing Clowns - Live: Prince Melon Bootleg series Volume 7 cd (Prince Melon)
• Flower / Corsano Duo – The Four Aims cd (VHF)

FEBRUARY

• 5th Laneway Festival with Echo & The Bunnymen, Eddy Current Suppression Ring and lots more.
• 6th Steering By Stars at the Ed Castle with Red Ink.
• 11th RZA at Fowler’s Live.
• 12th Le Rayon Vert DJ Set at the Metro.
• 13th Avant Gardeners at the Metro.
• 13th Satan’s Cheerleaders at Higher Ground.
• 19th Yo La Tengo at Fowler’s Live.
• 20th Steering By Stars, Sincerely Grizzly at the Jade Monkey.
• 23rd Brian Jonestown Massacre at Fowlers.
• 25th Steering By Stars at the Ed Castle.
• 26th Satan’s Cheerleaders at the Crown & Anchor.
• 26th Hit the Jackpot at Supermild.
• 27th London Sinfonietta: Pacific Currents at the Adelaide Town Hall.
• 28th London Sinfonietta: Wind & Glass at the Adelaide Town Hall.

MARCH

• 5-8th WOMADelaide at Botanic Park with the Skatalites, Calexico, Ravi Shankar, Dean & Britta and lots more.
• 6th Wayne Shorter Quartet at the Festival Theatre.
• 7th The Necks at the Spiegeltent.
• 7th Pavement at Thebby
• 12th Robert Forster is the guest at Julia Zemiro’s Comfort Zone in the Spiegeltent.
• 13th Dinosaur Jr at Fowlers Live.
• 13th Hit the Jackpot with Naked on the Vague at the Metro.
• 18th Raekwon at HQ.
• 24th The Pixies at Thebby (playing Doolittle)

Rumour has it that the Wedding Present are looking to possibly tour Australia after a visit to Japan in May. An Adelaide show might be a bit much to ask for … perhaps another visit to Melbourne will be required if it happens.

Also one of my favourite bands from my Sydney days were Crow, they’re back together and have a new album on the way so a tour should be on the cards as well.

On the Stereo

• Joe Morris Quartet – Today On Earth cd (AUM Fidelity)
• Vic Chesnutt – North Star Deserter cd (Constellation)
• Thee Silver Mt Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band – 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons cd (Constellation)
• Neko Case – Middle Cyclone cd (Anti)
• Death – … For the Whole World to See cd (Drag City)
• Lightning Bolt - Earthly Delights cd (Load)
• Mark Stewart + Maffia - Learning to Cope With Cowardice cd (On U Sound)
• Machinefabriek - Weleer 2cd (Lampse)
• Chicks on Speed – Cutting the Edge 2cd (Chicks on Speed)
• Max Tundra – Parallax Error Beheads You cd (Domino)

It happened almost a week ago but I’ve only just heard that Eric Rohmer has died. He was, for me, the best film director there has been. It’s hard to descibe, since many people seem to find his films boring, but for me they are perfect. This blog is named for one of them, but I have greatly enjoyed them all, and while he did live to a good age and was making films almost to the end, I still cannot help but be very sad at the news. No more Rohmer, no more Bergman … for me no-one matches these two, and now they are both gone.

Read more from Roger Ebert, The Measure or at the New York Times.

The other day I was excited at the prospect of a new album from A Silver Mt Zion coming out very soon, now I’ve found out that two more of my favourite artists have new ones out in the next couple of months – Autechre and Joanna Newsom.

I’ve had a dig around on youtube to find some great videos of some of their older work, first up some nice unofficial Autechre video clips:

Clipper from Tri Repetae

Dropp from EP7

A lesson in how to dance to Autechre featuring Cfern from Confield.

Now some videos for A Silver Mt Zion:

Movie (Never Made) from He Has Left Us Alone But Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms

and a live clip of 1,000,000 Died to Make This Sound from 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons in two parts (great footage but low quality upload, also the song is interrupted due to a weird setup at the festival):

Next, here is some live footage of Joanna Newsom from ATP curated by the Dirty Three (on the topic of Joanna Newsom live, at the show at the Forum next week she’ll be supported by the excellent Ned Collette & Wirewalker)

Bridges and Balloond from The Milk-eyed Mender

Monkey and Bear from Ys at the same show

Just a few small updates on the last post.

Satan’s Cheerleaders play at the Cranka this Friday, their first show since they played a great gig last year with God God Dammit Dammit & the Barons of Tang at Enigma. Well worth seeing, and for those who are already familiar with them there’s some great new material to hear.

Saturday offers an excellent choice between Neko Case at Fowlers, or Legends of Motorsport plus No Through Road at the Metro.

One more thing this weekend is that this Sunday arvo I’ll be doing a DJ set at the Metro from 4-7pm, and I’m in the mood for reggae.

Coming up in February is a rare gig by the Avant Gardeners at the Metro on the 13th. They were last spotted at Winnerfest in May last year (video here).

Also, I’d previously listed the Dinosaur Jr gig in March as being on the 12th – fortunately that was wrong, it’s on the 13th. Fortunate because Robert Forster is appearing that night at Julia Zemiro’s Comfort Zone.

Here’s Satan’s Cheerleaders at the Cranka last year (Adelaide band video care of Spoz as usual)

Something else to check out – Mess & Noise have an interview with Vince Giarrusso from the Underground Lovers about their album Rushall Station (as pictured in an earlier post here)

Also to celebrate the upcoming release of a new album from A Silver Mt Zion (or whatever variant of their name they’ll be using this time) here is a live performance of Blind Blind Blind from their last album (in two parts)

and from their second album,  Could’ve Moved Mountains, again in two parts.

It would be really nice if they finally tour Australia after this one. In fact, in a little over a week they will be right at the top of my list of bands that I desperately to want to see live. Expect more Silver Mt Zion promotion in future posts in the hope that I convert some fans and they buy the album and then the band tours because they are so popular here. I can hope can’t I?

One more piece of news before I get on with the gig listings – SWANS ARE NOT DEAD.

JANUARY

• 15th Satan’s Cheerleaders at the Crown & Anchor
• 16th Neko Case at Fowlers Live
• 16th Legends of Motorsport & No Through Road at the Metro.
• 17th Le Rayon Vert DJ set at the Metro.
• 20th Handsome Family at the Grace Emily.
• 20th (Melbourne) Joanna Newsom at the Forum.
• 21st (Melbourne) The Dirty Three and the Laughing Clowns at the Forum
• 22nd The Dirty Three at Fowlers Live.
• 22nd (Melbourne) The Laughing Clowns at the East Brunswick Club.
• 23rd (Melbourne) Camera Obscura at the Corner Hotel.

FEBRUARY

• 5th Laneway Festival with Echo & The Bunnymen, Eddy Current Suppression Ring and lots more.
• 11th RZA at Fowler’s Live.
• 12th Le Rayon Vert DJ Set at the Metro.
• 13th Avant Gardeners at the Metro.
• 19th Yo La Tengo at Fowler’s Live.
• 27th London Sinfonietta: Pacific Currents at the Adelaide Town Hall.
• 28th London Sinfonietta: Wind & Glass at the Adelaide Town Hall.

MARCH

• 5-8th WOMADelaide at Botanic Park with the Skatalites, Calexico, Ravi Shankar, Dean & Britta and lots more.
• 6th Wayne Shorter Quartet at the Festival Theatre.
• 7th The Necks at the Spiegeltent.
• 7th Pavement at Thebby
• 12th Robert Forster is the guest at Julia Zemiro’s Comfort Zone in the Spiegeltent.
• 13th Dinosaur Jr at Fowlers Live.
• 18th Raekwon at HQ.
• 24th The Pixies at Thebby (playing Doolittle)

On the Stereo

• Cat Power – The Greatest cd (Matador)
• Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – Wilding in the West (Spunk)
• Larsen – Musm II cd (Important)
• Magik Markers – A Panegyric to the Things I Do Not Understand cd (Gulcher)
• Fugazi - In On the Killtaker cd (Dischord)
• The Sea and Cake - s/t cd (Thrill Jockey)
• Jim O’Rourke – The Visitor cd (Spunk / Drag City)
• Mercury Rev – The Peel Sessions 2cd (Universal)
• Animal Collective - Fall Be Kind cdep (Domino)
• Björk - Voltaic cd (Nonesuch)

There seem to be a lot of gigs happening on the same nights in this week’s gig guide, so possibly some tough choices coming. There’s four things this Friday, I think it would be a bit overambitious for me to aim for more than two though. I’ll go for the two late additions – locals Cheer Advisory Council, who I’ve been wanting to see for quite a while, they’re probably on first so get to the Jade nice & early if you want to see them. Later on there’s Joker at the monthly dubstep night at Live on Light Square. I haven’t seen any for quite a while, probably not since Reso back in August, and a Joker set is supposed to be about as good as it gets, so I’m definitely keen.

Note also that another week brings another Wu Tang member to Adelaide, with Raekwon touring in March.

JANUARY

• 7th Dan V is playing a solo set with Two Suns at the Jade Monkey.
• 8th Kaki King at Jive.
• 8th Method Man & Redman at the Shores.
• 8th Cheer Advisory Council with the Honey Pies & Keepsakes at the Jade Monkey.
• 8th Joker at Live on Light Square
• 9th Like Leaves are supporting DZ at the Ed Castle.
• 9th No One Wants to Play With Me 2 at the Metro with lots of people from local bands playing solo.
• 16th Neko Case at Fowlers Live
• 16th Legends of Motorsport & No Through Road at the Metro.
• 17th Le Rayon Vert DJ set at the Metro.
• 20th Handsome Family at the Grace Emily.
• 20th (Melbourne) Joanna Newsom at the Forum.
• 21st (Melbourne) The Dirty Three and the Laughing Clowns at the Forum)
• 22nd The Dirty Three at Fowlers Live.
• 22nd (Melbourne) The Laughing Clowns at the East Brunswick Club.
• 23rd (Melbourne) Camera Obscura at the Corner Hotel.

FEBRUARY

• 5th Laneway Festival with Echo & The Bunnymen, Eddy Current Suppression Ring and lots more.
• 11th RZA at Fowler’s Live.
• 19th Yo La Tengo at Fowler’s Live.
• 27th London Sinfonietta: Pacific Currents at the Adelaide Town Hall.
• 28th London Sinfonietta: Wind & Glass at the Adelaide Town Hall.

MARCH

• 5-8th WOMADelaide at Botanic Park with the Skatalites, Calexico, Ravi Shankar, Dean & Britta and lots more.
• 6th Wayne Shorter Quartet at the Festival Theatre.
• 7th The Necks at the Spiegeltent.
• 7th Pavement at Thebby
• 12th Dinosaur Jr at Fowlers Live.
• 18th Raekwon at HQ.
• 24th The Pixies at Thebby (playing Doolittle)

On the Stereo

• Curse ov Dialect – Crisis Tales cd (Mistletone)
• The Fall – A Part of America Therein cd (Sanctuary)
• MV & EE with The Golden Road – Drone Trailer cd (DiCristina)
• Condo Fucks - Fuckbook cd (Matador)
• Fuck Buttons – Street Horrrsing cd (ATP)
• Loden – Valeen Hope cd (Mush)
• Various – Artificial Intelligence cd (Warp)
• Various – Artificial Intelligence II cd (Warp)
• Helena Espvall & Masaki Batoh - s/t cd (Drag City)
• Akron/Family & Angels of Light – split cd (Young God)

Wow, still getting over the fact that I saw the original line-up of the Underground Lovers, one of my favourite Australian bands ever, last night. They played (possibly not quite in this order) Eastside Stories, Got Off On It, I Was Right, Beautiful World, Promenade, Holiday, Corn, Nice GI, Get It On, Dream It Down, Your Eyes. First encore: Ripe, Las Vegas. Second Encore: Losin’ It (complete with party poppers handed out to the audience for the last chorus)

I have no idea whether they’ll be back for more, but they were clearly having a great time so it’s certainly possible.

No time for a full gig guide post but there’s something else coming up at the East Brunswick Club, the Laughing Clowns play there on January 22.

I’ve noticed that some of the disinformation being spread about the CRU hack (called Swifthack or Climategate – lots of info here) is starting to creep into reports on climate change on the ABC, for example this morning some radio reports regarding the WMO’s finding that the last decade has been the hottest on record has been qualified by mentions of the hack, when there is no credible reason to believe that the leaked emails indicate a problem with the instrumental record -  I note that the online version of the story doesn’t do this though).

The following videos show how comments have been taken out of context to generate controversy

The Wu Tang Clan seem to really love Australia lately, next to tour is the RZA who’ll be at Fowler’s in February.

DECEMBER

• 10th Jarvis Cocker at HQ the Gov.
• 16th Darren Hanlon at the Grace Emily
• 18th Sandy Cenin & Paul Champion’s Xmas show at the Metro.
• 19th (Melbourne) Underground Lovers at the East Brunswick Club.
• 23rd (Melbourne) Kim Salmon & the Surrealists, No Through Road and lots more at the Low Transit Industries Xmas show at the Corner Hotel.

JANUARY

• 5th Cat Power at the Gov.
• 8th Kaki King at Jive.
• 8th Method Man & Redman at the Shores.
• 16th Neko Case at Fowlers Live
• 20th Handsome Family at the Grace Emily.
• 20th (Melbourne) Joanna Newsom at the Forum.
• 21st (Melbourne) The Dirty Three and the Laughing Clowns at the Forum)
• 22nd The Dirty Three at Fowlers Live.
• 23rd (Melbourne) Camera Obscura at the Corner Hotel.

FEBRUARY

• 5th Laneway Festival with Echo & The Bunnymen, Eddy Current Suppression Ring and lots more.
• 11th The RZA at Fowler’s Live.
• 19th Yo La Tengo at Fowler’s Live.
• 27th London Sinfonietta: Pacific Currents at the Adelaide Town Hall.
• 28th London Sinfonietta: Wind & Glass at the Adelaide Town Hall.

MARCH

• 5-8th WOMADelaide at Botanic Park with the Skatalites, Calexico, Ravi Shankar, Dean & Britta and lots more.
• 6th Wayne Shorter Quartet at the Festival Theatre.
• 7th The Necks at the Spiegeltent.
• 7th Pavement at Thebby
• 12th Dinosaur Jr at Fowlers Live.
• 24th The Pixies at Thebby (playing Doolittle)

On the Stereo

• Crayon Fields – All the Pleasures of the World cd (Chapter)
• The Holy Sea – The Beginner’s Guide to the Sea cd
• The Angels of Light – Sing “Other People” cd (Young God)
• Wire - Live at the Roxy / Live at CBGB Theatre 2cd (Pink Flag)
• The Fall - The Infotainment Scan 2cd (Sanctuary)
• Jaga Jazzist – The Stix 2LP (Ninja Tune)
• Daedelus – Exquisite Corpse cd (Ninja Tune)
• Stacs of Stamina – Tivoli cd (Werk Discs)
• Battles – Mirrored cd (Warp)
• Lightning Bolt – Hypermagic Mountain cd (Load)

While hunting around for ATP clips (for the previous post)), I came across a few other things and I thought I’d post some clips from artists who are touring soon.Lots of my favourite artists ever featured here, but there is only one amongst them who I’ve never seen before live, so it’s particularly exciting – it’s Joanna Newsom with a live version of the incredible opening track to Ys (which, since everyone else is coming up with such lists, I’m tempted to call the album of the decade)

Joanna Newsom – Emily (in 2 parts)

Underground Lovers – Beautiful World (couldn’t find any live footage)

Kim Salmon & the Surrealists – I Fell

Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career

The Dirty Three – Authentic Celestial Music

Laughing Clowns – Eternally Yours

Cat Power – Nude as the News

Yo La Tengo – Here to Fall

Dinosaur Jr – Sludgefeast

Pavement – Summer Babe

The Pixies – Bone Machine