The Video Bin 6: A Fahrenheit 55 Special

For my first Video Bin since the prolonged hiatus, I have decided to dip into a particularly limited pool of videos, artists whom I have seen live at Guildford’s Fahrenheit 55. I thought this would make a nice celebration/appreciation of the Wednesday acoustic night that is run there, and a note of the quality of act that plays. Alas, they have yet to book The National for an intimate performance, but I am convinced that it won’t be long until they play the hallowed Strangers On A Train night.

If you’re in Guildford on a Wednesday don’t you dare miss it. And get yourself 3 for 2 on cocktails while you’re at it. Fahrenheit 55.

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Mark Aaron James – Goths Of Summer

To kick things off, here is the first artist I saw headline at Fahrenheit, Mark Aaron James, aka The American With The Permanent Smile. You would think that his desire to dip into unusual subjects to fuel his lyrics (see Kleptomaniac Girlfriend, Aquaman’s Lament) would grate, but it never does. MAJ is too joyous and constantly surprising with his choice of subject matter for it to seem gimmicky. Alas, much of his time is spent in America, so Guildford does not host him too often, but when they do it is always a special night. Happy to perform an acoustic cover of “Don’t Stop Believing”, no matter how drunkenly it is requested.

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Kid Adrift – Oxytocin (Chemical Soup)

So admittedly it is only keyboardist Becky Woolls that has appeared at Fahrenheit, armed with the kind of keyboard skills, unhinged vocals and unique lyrical content that bares comparison to Joanna Newsom, but I would feel badly about myself if I didn’t share this particular tune. Having just headlined the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury, Kid Adrift very much have upward momentum at the moment, their spectacular mixture of estranged electronics and angered vocals can be found on the Oxytocin EP, released July 12th. For now, just enjoy the title track from that EP, and try not to get as addicted to it as I am.

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Byron Johnston – Mia Rumba

Aside from being perhaps the most skilled guitarist I have ever seen, Byron Johnston also helps out as sound engineer at Fahrenheit, even offering to fill half-hour gaps if people have dropped out at the last moment. His skill is mesmerising, moving fluidly between pop covers, flamenco and world music, and slide blues as and when appropriate. He recently, for the first time, played the headline at Fahrenheit, along with the astounding vocals of Randolph Matthews (see below). This is the only video I have of an artist actually playing at Fahrenheit, and it’s a truly astounding performance, as always.

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Randolph Matthews

An album between Randolph Matthews and Byron Johnston is in the works, purpotedly coming out “soon” (see, never say I don’t bring you exculsives). Their collabaration, which unfortunately there seem to be no videos of, is perhaps my favourite set I’ve seen at Fahrenheit. The day a hard copy of their song “Light The Flame” becomes available will be the day I am truly happy. Here I’ve decided to put an intervie which contains clips of Matthews’ music, because it’s rare for me to find a video where an artist is so welcome to give an insight into their music.

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Love.Stop.Repeat – Pillow

Bringing a special aura to Fahrenheit, Love.Stop.Repeat’s magical performances must surely be put down to the amazing Lindsay West, whose vocals could best be described as a soothing combination of Feist and Beth Gibbons.

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I have to, finally, give a massive thanks to Andy “Panpipe” Vale, who as far as I’m aware makes the majority of this possible. If you told me there’s a harder working guy with a better taste in music than Andy in Guildford, I wouldn’t believe you, because there isn’t. Check out the website, check out the Facebook Group, and if you’re in Guildford on a Wednesday night and don’t go, then I’m afraid you’re going to have to the consider the possibility that you fail at life.

The Video Bin 5

LCD Soundsystem – North American Scum

James Murphy seems to be a fan of this sort of stomping rock, which subtly sets about infecting you with its dance vibes even as you keep repeating “No way, man, this is a rock track”. After this and “Daft Punk Is Playing In My House”, I’m hoping that the third, and rumoured last, LCD Soundsystem album will feature a few more of Murphy’s epic blends of guitar and electro when it is released later this year.

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Massive Attack – Inertia Creeps

Listen to Heligoland. OK, it’s not up with their best, but it has been over a decade since their best. So just enjoy the good album instead of pointing out where they’ve “gone wrong”.

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The Good, The Bad And The Queen – Kingdom Of Doom

Oh, Damon Albarn what projects won’t you join?

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Arcade Fire & David Bowie – Wake Up

Sure, this collaboration has been around for ages. Doesn’t make it any less perfect. Anyone who has seen Where The Wild Things Are (or at least seen its trailer) is going to have the song stuck in their heart for a while, unless they dont have one of course. And throwing David Bowie into the mix, well, it just convinces everyone that an indie covers album a la Peter Gabriel’s Scratch My Back must be round the corner soon.

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Beach House – Silver Soul

The essence of Teen Dream is very well represnted by the video, while the band themself just go about crafting their moodiest, most addictive and just downright most awesome track ever. Victoria Legrend’s forlornly wails “it is happening again” amidst a strangely calming storm.

The Video Bin 4

Sunday is starting to become official Video Bin day. So maybe I should change its name to Video Bin Sunday. But then I will be obliged. And I don’t like being obliged. That damn Wednesday Countdown has already given me one weekly obligation, a second would just kill me. Because I spend so much damn time and effort on these posts, y’know.

Things I have managed to conclude this morning:

• Everything decomposes quicker than you want it to.
• Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe Series 2 was the best series of any TV show from the 00′s.
• The second album by Foals is worth looking forward to.
• The creator of the Chocolate Digestive is a God amongst mortals.
• Fyfe Dangerfield is a lefty, which increases the amount of cool he has, which was already pretty high from having the world’s most amazing name.

Videos:

R.E.M. have been consistently amazing live for pretty much three decades. “The One I Love” has always been referred to as a high point of their career, and it comes off of my favourite R.E.M. album, “Document”, so it’s always good to see it played live when they could be playing exclusively more recent tracks from “Accelerate” etc. The new live album from Dublin may feel slightly unecessary considering it’d been less than 2 years since they last put out a live CD, but that doesn’t make it any less amazing.

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One of these years I really am gonna have to get myself down to Bonnaroo. Every year great artists bring their A Game, and I keep finding out about it on YouTube years later. Here’s one guy who’s always a laugh live, Andrew Bird, playing “Fake Palindromes” at the 2006 festival.

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Firstly, a shout-out to La Blogotheque, which have created probably my favourite YouTube channel for good music. I should’ve mentioned them earlier for giving us Grizzly Bear doing “Knife” a capella. But I didn’t. Anyway, here is Fyfe Dangerfield, showing us his solo skills. His first solo album is currently in the works, along with a third Guillemots album, which I hope will see Dangerfield morph from a guy with a couple of gems in his back catalogue to an artist of consitent brilliance.

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So yeah, Micheal Cera is in an Islands video. Yep.

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I highly recommend the new album “Heartland” by Owen Pallett (formerly known by the moniker “Final Fantasy”). You can see Pallett in action here, crafting a gorgeous cover of the Bloc Party song “This Modern Love”. Single-handedly making violins cool all over again.

The Video Bin

So yes, here be the first post I’ve made in 2010, and I promise you that from here on in, now that we have rid ourselves of the chains of end-of-decade lists, there will be more album reviews, more musical discussion and less faffing about with numbers. That, I think, is my New Year resolution.

For now, however, I am dropping some all-new videos into The Video Bin for your consumption. After the excesses of Christmas and the New Year, consider this treat to be the wafer-thin mint that finally finishes you off. Enjoy.

Things I have managed to conclude this morning:

• Slightly undercooked sweet potato is surprisingly delicious.
• C++ is not for the faint-hearted.
• The Predator-Prey Model is actually quite interesting, given that it displays yet another way in which maths is intrinsically built into nature.
• Re: Stacks is the best song on “For Emma, Forever Ago”, and Moby’s seemingly crazy claim that it is the track of the decade is starting to look awfully prescient.
• I am in a playful mood.

Videos:

Was the Daytrotter session I posted a while back not good enough for you? Then after going to the doctor to fix your chronically high standards, check out this superb video where you can see Justin Vernon’s passion as well as hear it. Still waiting on news about the 2nd album, Mr. Vernon.

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Not the best quality recording for this one, but it does still show off Yeasayer at their best, seamlessly combining addictive pop with interesting, creative  sounds. The cry of “stick up for yourself, son” is still bouncing round my head, the sort of hook that multi-platinum pop super-producers wish they had. And I want that fretless bass. I want it more than I’ve ever wanted anything else in my life.

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I love Matt Berninger’s voice, but I will admit he doesn’t get many opportunities to show it off. Generally he is required to be two-tone, switching between a flatline baritone and a screaming breakdown where the instrumentation demands. But here, on one of my favourite songs by The National, he is immense. Backed by a single guitar he carries every syllable effortlessly. He also looks like David Thewlis.

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Not sure why I love Neil Young. But I do. So here he is.

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A sign of things to come? We sure hope so. A lament for the unseen beauty of England, even with just an acoustic guitar for accompaniment, you can hear the rising mood, the snow becoming a snowstorm. A song for all seasons, but one that crystallises to perfection when listened to during the coldest one. Not sure about the hair though.

Portishead – Chase The Tear

Yes, I know, a second post in one day? This is madness! There is a reason, however, and it is not Sparta. It is a little proof on my part that sometimes, every now and again, I am on the cutting edge of what is Hip and Happening. In this case, I refer to a new Portishead track which they have recorded for the human rights organisation Amnesty International. The song will be available for download from tomorrow, but a video has become available which showcases the oddly-titled “Chase The Tear” in all its glory. Video below.

Wow. Holy… Did that just happen, you guys? It did. Well…

Not sure about you, but I was addicted on first listen. Beth Gibbons can do haunting, tortured vocals in her sleep (which may explain why nobody wants to stay a night at the Gibbons household), and of course it’s hugely impressive, but that is about par for the course for Portishead. It’s the beats that back it, the slowly entering horn stabs and that constantly racing drone, the keyboards barely change in terms of melody but it changes in texture and form as cries of “holding off tomorrow’s sorrow” eminent around loose clean guitar. That’s what makes this stand out so forcefully. This is “We Carry On” mixed with the Countdown theme. It almost feels like a race against the clock, towards an indeterminable finish line.

I had to share this with you. I just had to. We can assume, perhaps, that this track is considered not good enough for their fourth album, a reasonable assessment, and one that leaves me praying to the gods of Quantum that I happen to be in the parallel universe where this comes out in 2010. Magic is at work here. Enjoy it while it lasts.