MOGWAI - 02 ACADEMY, LEEDS 20/02/11

"Come on! Rip it up! I want to bleed from my eyes and my ears", comes the shout from a punter stage right, much to the amusement of Stuart Braithwaite of Mogwai, before piling into a superb three song encore at the 02 Academy in Leeds. The rapt, silent, reverential audience (rare for a gig at this venue) gave Mogwai the platform to deliver a stellar set, heavily featuring songs from the new album; Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will. Ably supported by Luke Southerland on the violin / guitar and vocals.

For me the key moment of the gig was in You're Lionel Richie, where you could literally hear a pin drop, prior to the devastating volume unleashed at mid point in the song. I wore ear plugs for this gig, and even with them in use, the sheer volume unleashed was beyond belief. The bass especially had my entire body shaking from the third row.

This was only the second time I've seen Mogwai (though I *think* I saw them at a festival in either 1997 or 1998), the previous time being as a support act to the Manic Street Preachers way back in 1998 at Bridlington Spa Pavilion. Quite honestly I am gutted I've not made the effort over the years, because this was a sublime show. Hardcore is a great album, one that I'm loving more each time I play it, the final encore Mexican Grand Prix, is a real stand out for me.

One other amusing moment came after the bleeding ears/eyes comment, when a wee Scottish lass shouted out "play Friend Of The Night", to which Stuart responded; "we did that one 30 minutes ago, must have been a very subtle version". Staurt wore his retro Celtic shirt throughout the gig, and Digger commented to me afterwards what the gig would have been like if Celtic had lost the Glasgow derby, well they didn't and we proffered with a belting Mogwai performance, bring the noise indeed.

Rating 9/10 (would have got a 10 if they had played Like Herod).

Set list: White Noise / I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead / Death Rays / How To Be A Werewolf / Letters To The Metro / Cody / Christmas Steps / Friend Of The Night / Rano Pano / You're Lionel Richie / 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong / Bat Cat // Auto Rock / Hunted By A Freak / Mexican Grand Prix

RADIOHEAD - THE KING OF LIMBS

Radiohead decided in the end to release the new album a day early, so I've listened to this approximately 10 times now. First off I need to point out that I am a huge Radiohead fan, so I was never going to hate the new album, I'm also hardly the most unbiased of reviewers, with that in mind here's my view.

This release fits into the Kid A/Amnesiac/Hail To Thief suite of Radiohead albums, The Bends 2 it is not. There are virtually no real drums, no 3 guitar traditional rock songs and probably little to like if you gave up on Radiohead after OK Computer.

That said there are some absolute classic Radiohead moments on this album . Codex is one of the most beautiful songs I have heard in years. The song is built on minor piano chords, with discordant brass floating over the top, with Thom Yorke singing:

Slight of hand / Jump off the end

Into a clear lake / No one around

Just dragonflies / flying to the side

No one gets hurt / You've done nothing wrong

Slide your hand / Jump off the end

The water's clear / And innocent

The water's clear / And innocent

Simply one of Radiohead's greatest songs, bar none.

Throughout the album there are weird things going on, white noise, bird call, distorted drums, odd time syncs, multi layered affected vocals, typical of post OK Computer Radiohead. Other tracks of note are Lotus Flower (the single) which has a great video of Thom Yorke doing his weird little dances. Final track Separator is also pretty special, great shuffling drums, multi-layered vocals, massive reverb, beautiful guitar arpeggio's from Johnny (through several delay pedals by the sound of it) and Thom singing dreamily "Wake me up, wake me up" and "If you think this is over, you're wrong". Could that last lyric and the song title be a pointer to a swift follow up album?

The album flies by in 38 minutes and leaves quite an impression, for some reason I can't stop thinking about the films Vanilla Sky and Inception when I am listening to the album. There is so much depth and so much going on, that I keep finding new stuff on each successive listen.

So all in all , no great leap forward, just Radiohead doing exactly what they want, on their own terms and not pandering to anyone, least of all the fans. I love them for that.

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS - GO GO BOOTS

Here's another Drive-By Truckers release (11th in total), the companion to 'The Big To-Do', which was recorded at the same time in 2009. Whilst 'The Big To-Do' was full of crunchy rock anthems, 'Go Go Boots' is way more soulful and features slower ballads from the three main songwriters, Hood, Cooley and Tucker. There's also two Eddie Hilton covers thrown in for good measure and overall this album keeps up the career high quality from DBT over the last year or so.

The album has several beautiful Cooley country tunes, with a couple of Patterson Hood R&B murder ballads thrown in (as he likes to call them). Shona Tuckers two songs are the equal of anything she's recorded with DBT to date. Several of the songs have been around for many years and only finally finding a home on this album, case in point being Pulaski, which Mike Cooley wrote many years ago.

The Wes Freed cover art is absolutely spot on and nails the feel of the album. In addition you can track down a six track live EP called 'Sometimes Late A Night', which is being given away free with orders from Rough Trade in the UK. This EP features a cover of the late, great Vic Chestnutt song 'When I Ran Off and Left Her', plus five DBT songs live. Well worth tracking down, not least for the brilliant Wes Freed cover art (which is now framed and on my wall).

DBT return to the UK in May for a long awaited Leeds gig debut. Should be a blast.

UPDATE 17/02/11 - I'm on my 10th play since this dropped through the post yesterday. This album is quite simply superb. So many fantastic songs, Go Go Boots and The Fireplace Poker especially are stand outs.

RADIOHEAD - THE KING OF LIMBS

Completely out of the blue, comes the announcement of a new Radiohead album this Saturday.

I've gone for the Newspaper format, which I can't really get my head around the meaning of. Either way, £30 for two 10" records, one CD, a MP3 download and loads of artwork, plus shipping seems pretty reasonable to me. The MP3 is available for download this Saturday, with the full package being released in May. Review to follow when I've heard it at the weekend, rumours are it's a return to classic, epic, pre Kid A Radiohead.

Update: Apologies for getting the title wrong in the original post!

DUKE SPIRIT - BRUDENELL SOCIAL CLUB, LEEDS 10/02/11

It's unusual for me to buy tickets for a gig, when I've only heard one track by the band. However, that is exactly what I did after hearing the Duke Spirit's new song 'Everybody's Under Your Spell', off the Kusama EP. What a superb track, it really got me hooked and has been on a favourite tracks playlist on my iPod for several weeks.

Support band were Tape The Radio who were actually really good, they had a bit of an early Editors vibe going, though with a more punky edge. Impressive stuff, the new single 'Heartache and Fear' is available as a free download here. Check them out.

Duke Spirit are fronted Liela Moss, who is an excellent front man (you know what I mean), in the style of Shirley Manson (from Garbage) or maybe Siouxsie Sioux. Her voice has excellent range, though as Pammy pointed out, there was no chance of making out the lyrics. Duke Spirit kick up a hell of a rock din, through two lead guitars wailing away and a huge rock beat coming from the drums. The show maintained momentum, with the majority of the 12 tracks being up tempo rock songs, with just a couple of slower ballads thrown in. Liela mentioned that several songs were new, which judging by the (packed) crowds response, bode well for some chart success in the future.

I picked up a signed copy of the last LP, Nepute for a tenner on the merchandise stall, which topped off a great gig. I've listened to this a couple of times now and it's pretty good, let down a bit by a low key production. None of the songs match the magnificent 'Everybody's Under Your Spell', but they are clearly developing as a band, so I can forgive them that.

If you are going to do one thing today, I urge you to go on iTunes and download 'Everybody's Under Your Spell', 0.79p well spent.

MOGWAI - HARDCORE WILL NEVER DIE, BUT YOU WILL

Mogwai's 7th album, though I've got 13 CD's sat on my shelf, including, compilation's, EP's, soundtracks and live albums. This for me is probably up there in the top 3 of Mogwai releases (with Young Team and Rock Action). This is an epic set of songs, which covers all bases of the Mogwai sound, which has developed since Young Team way back in 1997. I picked up the deluxe book version with the extra CD of the 23 minute 'Music For A Forgotten Future (The Singing Mountain)', which was recorded for an art installation by Douglas Gordon and Olaf Nicolai. Douglas Gordon had previously worked with Mogwai on the Zinedine Zidane movie 'Zidane - A 21st Century Portrait' which was released in 2006.

The ten tracks on this album really are quite diverse, covering the Mogwai quiet-loud template on several songs, to a more up tempo, even chart friendly, offerings on songs like Mexican Grand Prix. Synth drums feature quite heavily throughout, as do synthesized vocal effects using vocoders. The album has huge scope, for a band portrayed by some as having been repeating the same trick for 14 years. For me, Mogwai grow with each release, on Hardcore using violin, piano, slide guitar to great effect. I love hearing deeply buried melodies way down in the mix, which jump out like buried treasure when you find them. The bizarro song titles continue, rumours persist these are randomly generated by an Internet word engine.

On final track You're Lionel Richie, four minutes into the song, which has been building from the start there is a short lull, before effects pedals, drums, bass are all engaged, with volume set to 11 and the fun continues to the songs end 5 minutes later.

I'm finally getting to see Mogwai for the second time (the first time was supporting the Manic Street Preachers at Bridlington Spa Pavillion, way back in 1998) at the 02 in Leeds next Sunday. I've already got my ear plugs packed and ready, for what will should be a great show.

THE BOXER REBELLION - THE COLD STILL

I love Saturday's when a new CD drops through the post, today I received the new Boxer Rebellion album, The Cold Still. Even better I got the deluxe 'book' version from HMV with the bonus four track CD. A very nicely put together package, please don't give me a hard time, I still actually buy product, rather than the bland iTunes versions of new releases.

So what to make of TBR? They've been around since 2001 and have the tag of the 'unluckiest band in music', due to serious illness, being dropped by their label, etc, etc. Well I've been a fan since Watermelon came out in 2003, I've got a signed, limited copy (#68 out of 100 no less). TBR write great, brooding songs, with chiming delay ridden lead guitar and Nathan Nicholson's (birthplace Maryville, Tennessee) soaring voice layered over the top. TBR have released three albums, Exits in 2005 and the superb Union in 2009. Union, which initially only had a digital release, hit #4 on the UK top 100 and #2 on the Alternative chart. Union went on to be voted the best Alternative release of 2009 by iTunes editors. Couldn't agree more, it is an outstanding album. TBR went on to feature heavily in the 2010 Drew Barrymore film, Going The Distance with two tracks off Union featured and a new song, If You Run, which plays over the key final scenes of the film.

I'm pleased to say that The Cold Still carries on in the same vein, with maybe a denser sound than on previous releases. Top producer Ethan Johns was brought in for this album, which shows the amount of backing that TBR are now getting. Immediate stand out tracks for me are Step Out Of The Care, Caught By The Light and The Runner. Though Both Sides Are Even, is probably the track to download, to get the quintessential TBR sound. Awesome song. The Cold Still has much more depth than previous TBR releases with organ and other instrumentation prominent on several songs.

I've seen TBR live once before in Leeds on the Union tour and they were excellent, with a huge rock sounds. Hopefully the Leeds show on the 4th March will be equally as good. My tip is that 2011 is the year that TBR really break through, they've got a Letterman appearance looming in the States and it finally looks as though their luck has changed.

PHOSPHORESCENT - HERE'S TO TAKING IT EASY

Yeah I know I'm way behind the times on this one, but my only excuse is there's just too many excellent releases coming out and it's bloody expensive trying to keep up! I picked up tickets for the Phosphorescent gig at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds in June and spotted this on Amazon for £5.99 with free postage. Bargain.

This was another 2010 release that finished near the top of most of the end of year charts. I'd only heard one track from a freebie CD with Mojo, but blimey what a superb album. Laid back, effortless, sublime, Americana, in other words right up my street. It's definitely got a real 70's Topanga Canyon Neil Young feel to the whole album which also ticks the right boxes.

It's a strong set of songs which builds throughout and has quite a strong emotional feel to the whole album. It kicks off in jaunty style with It's Hard To Be Humble (When You're From Alabama) and keeps up the quality right through to the final cut Los Angeles, which is a real standout with beautiful pedal steel flying over the top of an ever building production.

I guess in places it also reminds me of Bonnie Prince Billy / Palace Brothers, which is no bad thing. All in all a top album and is pointing to the gig in June being a highlight of 2011.

BAND OF HORSES / MOJAVE 3 - 02 ACADEMY, LEEDS 31/01/11

Despite how much I hate the Academy as a venue (more on that later), Band Of Horses pulled off a fantastic gig last night. What I found most refreshing about the gig, was that Band Of Horses delivered the songs short and punchy, with absolutely no overindulgence. I think the only song in the entire gig that was longer than four minutes, was the first (acoustic) encore. It almost felt like a punk gig, with the four minutes or less ethos covering pretty much everything they did.

Band Of Horses ran through tracks from all three albums, with pretty much everything off Cease To Begin and Infinite Arms getting a hearing. They also threw in a Townes Van Zandt cover which was excellent. They said they were playing one song each night as a cover that they'd never played before; "to keep it fresh". Top stuff.

On various songs Band Of Horses had a three lead guitar attack, which is surely the finest sight in Rock n Roll. The only other band that also pull this off so well is the mighty Drive-By Truckers. Band Of Horses had an excellent stage setup with a huge cimematic backdrop showing images / films throughout the gig. Top stuff, especially the compilation of stills documenting a year of playing live.

Mojave 3 did a nice cameo support role, though only played six songs. What I heard I liked, so I'll be borrowing some of their CD's off Digger over the next week or so.

On to the venue; the main problem with the Academy is that the back end of the venue is under a fairly low roof where pretty much everyone stood there talks all the way through the gig. What is the point in paying £20 for a ticket and then talking? It really winds me up, especially when the band is as kick ass as Band Of Horses. I guess the answer is to pile down the front, which is what I'll be doing for Mogwai in a couple of weeks.