The Joy Formidable @ O2 Academy, 30th March 2010

Way back in January, I got tickets for The Joy Formidable for 23inertia's birthday. She'd discovered them via Indie Music Filter and loved everything about them, so it was an easy choice to make! After two long months of waiting, gig night was finally here. After the obligatory noodles at Tokyou we headed inside, on time for once!

Not many had showed up early, despite there being three bands playing that night. The first support, Bleech, started playing to the somewhat sparse crowd. They didn't do a lot for me, I'm afraid. Still, there seemed to be some support for them up front. I was content to watch from my seat at the back.

Second support, then, were the previously unknown (to me) Baddies. There are a few ways to describe their sound. Franz Ferdinand on speed. Electric Six meets Madness. Completely bonkers. However you choose to describe them, they were brilliant. Catchy tunes, immediately memorable choruses and somewhat quirky mannerisms. I immediately bought the album and the lead singer was manning the merch stand, so he toddled off with it to get the whole band to sign it for me. Lovely bloke.


Finally The Joy Formidable took to the stage. It was quite an odd stage layout. Normally for this sort of thing there are speakers, instruments and monitors all over the place. Not this time. Even the drummer was tucked off to one side leaving only the two guitar/vocalists on centre stage. Ritzy, the lead guitar and singer, was wearing what I can only describe as Victorian pyjamas, whereas Rhydian, bassist and backing vocal, was much more conservatively attired.

There were some in the crowd who were really (really) into it, pogoing and punching the air, but I've always found their music best to chill out to. Even during the heavier riffs, I closed my eyes and just drifted off with the music.

All too soon, it seemed, the main set ended and off they went leaving a somewhat bare stage behind them. Of course, an encore was a must and so back they came to satisfy our need for even more awesomeness, before finally disappearing into the night.


I picked up their album too. 23inertia was a bit disappointed because she loves the artwork on the jewel case edition, but this version just had the band name and title in a rather uninteresting layout. Little did we know that on removal from the packet, the true picture would unfold. It is actually a poster with aforementioned artwork on it, albeit rendered in monochrome, with a 12cm circular gap. The CD itself fills that gap and the printing on it completes the picture. I've never seen anything like it, and I love it.

Being a fan of the art myself, I grabbed a t-shirt with it on, as well as a Baddies t-shirt too. Got to love merchandise! It's probably the best way to directly support smaller bands; buy their stuff! So I do. A lot.

A fantastic gig indeed. I not only have a new appreciation for The Joy Formidable, but we have discovered Baddies too. That's just the way we like it.

The Courteeners @ O2 Academy - 19 March 2010

The Courteeners are something of a guilty pleasure for me. Mancunian indie rock with distinctly chavtastic themes, but so catchy that it puts dreary bands like Oasis to shame. I’ve never been a big fan of the Manchester indie scene; the accent does nothing for me and far too many try to be like the aforementioned Oasis, but Courteeners are actually much more like Sheffield’s own Arctic Monkeys than anything else.

23inertia and I first saw them way back in 2008 at Magna at the Love Music, Hate Racism rally, organised by Reverend & The Makers’ frontman Jon McClure. 23inertia was so impressed that she did the unthinkable and purchased the album from iTunes, DRM and all, rather than wait for a trip to town to buy the CD.

The band came to Sheffield as part of the tour for their new album, Falcon. It’s a world apart from their first offering, St. Jude, and manages to avoid second-album-syndrome altogether. The music is more melodic, with a lighter, more melancholic feel, and the whole thing hangs together wonderfully. I’ve already learned most of the words, and I haven’t even looked at the little book yet.

So yes, looking forward to this gig quite a lot. And we weren’t disappointed. Sensibly locating ourselves up on the balcony at the Sheffield O2 Academy, we had a great view, could hear perfectly, and best of all weren’t in the path of the flying pints so favoured by the scruffy urchins downstairs. The support band weren’t much cop and went for volume over quality, but once they’d gone away everything got much better. As a bit of a random aside, there were a couple of women walking about with plates of crisp sandwiches. I’m assured that one of them was Marmite flavour. It was suggested that this might have been a ploy to prevent the obviously under-age audience from getting too drunk. Who knew that crisp sandwich would ever be an hors d’oeuvre?

When the band first took to the stage, frontman Liam Fray was sporting a shaggy haircut and a pair of shades. I was rather concerned at the apparent attempt to resemble another, far less affable fellow named Liam, but fortunately my fears were unfounded. The shades were soon gone and, as I was inspired to comment to my co-giggers, he actually looks like a very pleasant young man.

The main set contained a mix of new and old material, with some classics being inserted between the new material they were there to showcase. This was done very well, and provided the crowd with familiar material between the newer stuff they might not have known yet. Even then, I was surprised at how well the crowd knew the newer material, even though the album hasn’t been out long.

One problem with a band such as this is the type of people who are attracted to the event. Being on the balcony was definitely the place to be as the crowd below seemed to revel in soaking each other in beer and throwing each other about. Quite how they afford to spend £3.50 on a pint only to throw it at somebody’s t-shirt I don’t know, but there you go. And of course, they absolutely love the word “fuck”. Every single time a line containing the word came up, the whole downstairs surged forward as one ... “It’s got FUCK ALL to do with me ...”

Once the main set was over with, the band disappeared, but Liam hung about and played a solo set of 5 or 6 songs. These were the quieter ones of both albums. The Rest Of The World Has Gone Home is a favourite of mine, and the classics Please Don’t and Yesterday, Today, & Probably Tomorrow were thrown in for good measure. This was my favourite part of the whole gig. The songs are strong enough to stand up on an album, live with the full band, or just a solo guitarist singing on an otherwise deserted stage.

Again, he disappeared, but moments later he was back again. Two encores! This time he brought the whole band with him and played what are arguably their most popular tracks, and 23inertia’s favourites, Not Nineteen Forever and You Overdid It Doll. They finished up with What Took You So Long? and wrapped up a very well played set.

Update Your Bookmarks!

The Mix Eclectic now has a proper domain. None of your blogspot rubbish. Update your bookmarks to point to http://www.themixeclectic.com/ now! All previous bookmarks and such should continue to work, mind. Well, I hope. Also, see our fancy new banner graphic.

Alice in Underwhelmed

This weekend we finally got to see the much hyped, unnecessarily controversial Tim Burton reworking of Alice In Wonderland. In 3D, no less. I went in to the theatre not knowing what to expect, but came out with an overwhelming feeling of ... meh.

That's not to say it's a bad film. It's watchable and better than much of the dross being churned out these days, but didn't fill me with any sense of wonder. Indeed, one of the most grating parts was the crowbarring of the name "Underland" into it with clumsy dialogue.

The plot, such as it is, hangs by a thread and feels like a bolted on addition as an excuse to present Burton's version of the characters. It all seems to revolve around Alice being "foretold" to kill the Jabberwock and free Underland from the grip of the red queen. Great, a prophesy movie with obligatory reluctant hero.

The thing about this film, aside from the paper thin plot devices and characters with barely a single dimension, is that (if I dare say this about a Burton film) none of it feels remotely original.

Here are a list of the things that made me go "wha...?"

• Alice's would-be husband is the spitting image ofLord Victor Quartermaine from Curse Of The Wererabbit
• The tree/rabbithole were clearly a nod to the tree-full-of-heads in Sleepy Hollow (forgivable as it's his own film)
• The first view of Wonderland after escaping the tiny door resembles the outside of the labyrinth in, um, Labyrinth
• The red queen is a large-headed doppelgänger of Queenie from Blackadder
• Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum, voiced by Matt Lucas, also bore an uncanny resemblance to the comic actor. There was no believability to the characters. I could only see the actor.
• The end of the battle with Jabberwock looked uncannily like the end of Gandalf's fight with the Balrog in Two Towers. I half expected Alice proclaim to have "smote his ruin on the mountainside"

One or two little things might be brushed aside as coincidence, but all these (and more) make it feel like a deliberate cop out. A pandering to the types of audience who thrive on pop culture references and rehashed tropes.

There are other niggles. Alan Rickman's lacklustre performance, the peculiar use of "vorpal" as a proper noun rather than nonsensical adjective, the inexplicable, unnecessarily cringe inducing dance routine. The fact that the whole thing being so trivially resolved made the "battle" for Underland feel more like bickering sisters. Because that's exactly what it was.

Part of me hopes that this film is a cynical exercise in media manipulation. An attempt to prove that a well regarded director can churn out any old crap and get the hype regardless. Part of me has a sinking feeling that this is not the case.

In the interest of fairness, I will admit that I was somewhat distracted from the film by the headache inducing problems with the 3D projection. Normally, slight ghosting from the projector is barely noticable, but when used in stereoscopic 3D it completely obliterates part of the picture.

I will watch the film again on DVD (the kids will want to anyway) and hopefully be able to get a bit more "sucked in" to it. Time will tell.

Tomato and Basil Salmon with Mediterranean salad

A light, simple salmon dish for bright summer or cozy winter evenings.

Ingredients

Salmon

• 2x skinned salmon fillets, approx. 120g each
• Fresh basil leaves
• Sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil
• Garlic (fresh, pre-chopped or paste)
• Olives (optional)

Salad

• Mixed leaves
• Red pepper
• Sun-dried tomatoes
• Assorted nuts & seeds
• Garlic & herb salad dressing

Method

Place the salmon on a lightly greased baking tray. Make three small holes in each, along the length, using an apple corer. If you don’t have an apple corer, a knife and a (clean) finger will do.

Press 6 sun-dried tomatoes and take 6 basil leaves (or 3 of each, cut in half, if they are large). Place one tomato on each basil leave with a small amount of garlic. Optionally put on olive on top, then fold each into a small parcel. Put one parcel in each of the holes previously made in the salmon.

Add salt and pepper to taste and drizzle olive oil from the sun-dried tomatoes over the salmon. Bake in a preheated oven at 200C for between 8 and 15 minutes according to taste.

Tear the mixed leaves into a salad bowl and add chopped red pepper and sun-dried tomatoes. Again, olives can be added but are optional. Toss the salad and sprinkle a assortment of nuts and seeds on top. I used pistachio nuts, pine nuts, linseeds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts and almonds. Drizzle the salad dressing over the salad.

Serve the salmon and salad with thick sliced crusty bread and butter. I used a crusty loaf with poppy seeds, but any will do.

Spicy Tomato Pork

A tasty pork marinade to brighten up an otherwise boring tea.

Ingredients

• 2x Pork steaks
• 1 tbsp tomato chutney
• 1 tsp Raydale Preserves’ Hellish Relish (or suitable spice relish)
• Finely chopped parsley
• Henderson’s Relish
• Salt and pepper

Method

Place the pork steaks in a suitable container and sprinkle parsley and Henderson’s relish on the top. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Mix the tomato chutney, the Hellish Relish, a sprinkle of Henderson’s to taste and some chopped parsley in a jug. After 2 hours, remove the pork from the fridge, turn it over and spread the mixture over the pork. Refrigerate again for 2 hours.

Place the pork marinade-side down on a grill pan and add a fresh layer of marinade to the top of the pork. Grill for a few minutes before turning to grill both sides. Grill to taste and serve with a salad potatoes, fresh veg, rice or even a salad. It’s entirely up to you.

Gigs, gigs and erm more gigs!

2009 was pretty hectic as far as gigs were concerned and I wanted 2010 to be even more impressive. A lot of dups last year: Electric Six 2 times, Reverend and the Makers 2 times, Magenta 3 times ... challenge for 2010?? At least one gig a month ... no dups!

The January gig was Lacuna Coil on their Shallow Life Tour at O2 Academy, Manchester.

This was followed by Sheffield Folk Metal band Northern Oak at Corporation.

Then came the long awaited Dead Like Harry album launch at The Plug. A Sheffield band who are really starting to make waves in the industry.

Last weekend we saw Frightened Rabbit at Leadmill. A favourite with some friends of ours and certainly worth going to see. Venue let the gig down a little bit, but the band were superb.

Next week we see The Courteeners. A band I first came across after seeing them at the Love Music, Hate Racism gig held at Magna in 2008 where they played a set before local boys Reverend and The Makers and Leeds lads the Kaiser Chiefs. This will be the first gig this year so far at O2 Academy, Sheffield.

The next gig will be The Joy Formidable at O2 Academy, Sheffield. I first came across these on Indie Music Filter Volume 5 and Doozr bought me tickets for their mid-week gig as a birthday present. That will be followed by the mighty Wonder Stuff at Leeds O2 Academy in April performing songs from their amazing album HUP! And finally Misstallica a female tribute to Metallica at O2 Academy, Sheffield in May. OMG I can't wait to see that!!!! LOL!

March has been a little manic as far as gigs are concerned and when I found out that Delain were playing Nottingham and Leeds next week, I had to hold myself back and not book them. Little disappointed but then I have had 4 gigs this month alone. I will have to wait until they tour next time. :(

So what is that then? 8 gigs by May? That is not bad going at all. I know Electric Six are playing in December again and so I think I will have to go see them again. There is also talk of a trip to Bloodstock this year, money and childminding permitting. So I will get to experience a whole weekend of mud and metal! It is looking very likely that I will successfully achieve my challenge for this year. Hmmm, I wonder what I can challenge myself to for 2011??

We Are The Void

Creepy. If there's one word to describe Dark Tranquillity's latest album, it has to be "creepy". From the eerie tones of Shadow In Our Blood to the disturbing lyrics of Her Silent Language, this album with send shivers down your spine and make your heart skip with excited trepidation. It is, quite frankly, brilliant.

As with many DT albums, it took a couple of listens to really take hold. Best done in isolation with a decent set of headphones and no lights. Having said that, I have been listening to Shadow In Our Blood, the opening track, since the video was released a couple of weeks before the album launch and was immediately hooked. My pre-ordered special edition arrived a couple of days before the official release date, and since then it's rapidly shot up the ranks of my personal "best of DT" list.

The guitarwork is, as usual, brilliant. It's no exaggeration to say they have the best riffs in metal, and Mikael Stanne uses clean and cookie monster vocal to great effect throughout. The drums, too, are a something to behold. Driving the melody with heavy bass and changing signatures to reinforce the mood of the album.

Watch out toward the end of In My Absence. Around the 4 minute mark. Are you listening? Did it make your fingers go numb and your heart jump into your throat? That's the quality of this album. Genuine emotional response. Genuine reaction to the music.

We Are The Void has taken it's rightful place in DT history. It is a superb accomplishment and, dare I say it, maybe rivalling Fiction and even Projector for the crown of best DT album ever.

If you haven't heard it, get it. If you have, appreciate the artistry, the emotion and the sheer musical talent of Dark Tranquillity. It's worth it.

Twitter to the rescue

Sometimes things work out nicely. As you may have gathered from my previous post, I was not happy with the Frightened Rabbit gig at all. A couple of things go wrong and it ruins the whole thing. Of course, if one of those things is "not being able to hear" then that's fairly fundamental for a gig, but there it is.

While sat with an irritable headache and feeling very annoyed, I tweeted my disgust with the state of the gig while lurking in the chillout room. This was picked up by whoever runs the Leadmill twitter account, who replied to me and explained that it was actually the agents who decided the running times of the two acts. When I had a crappy time at the Doves gig last April it turned out to be a similar issue; the venue complying with the agent's instructions and it going a bit pear shaped.

We sent a couple of messages back and forth and I feel much happier. I shared my thoughts directly with the venue, and they responded in a positive way and helped explain the issue. I've learned a few things just from that short exchange:

• The ridiculous waiting times were not the Leadmill's fault
• Twitter is a good way to make your opinions known
• The big sofas in the chillout room are great

Thanks to the positive way the Leadmill responded to my frustrated, somewhat sweary criticism, my faith is somewhat restored in the venue. I'll get some earplugs next time I go though!

Deafness or daftness?

Many people wear earplugs at gigs to help block out crowd noise and other audio nastiness. I've been known to use them in the past, but with the ever increasing quality of the sound equipment at the gigs I generally go to I'm finding them less and less necessary. I suffer from overly sensitive auditory nerves between my eardrums and my brain. My ears themselves are in fine working order, as proven by a series of tests at the ENT a few years ago. Unfortunately, excessive volume, certain treble frequencies or even tiredness can render my hearing all but useless. Everything becomes white noise and is highly irritating. Especially when somebody is trying to talk to me and, although I can hear a sound, I can't make out any words in it.

I haven't had a problem at a gig for about 2 years, and the last time it was due to a terrible mix at a venue I'd never been to before. Putting my iPod's earphones in my ears blocked out the volume and treble and allowed me to enjoy the gig.

The event that prompted this post was a trip to the Leadmill in Sheffield on the weekend. A couple of our friends are big fans of Frightened Rabbit, and asked if we wanted to go. After hearing a couple of tracks online, and always being up for something a bit different, we agreed and off we went.

Aside from the utter incompetence of the agents, the evening started pretty well. The support act, Yonderboy, were pretty good once they finally took to the stage (a full 90 minutes after advertised door times). Some of the crowd were particularly rude, though, and talked all the way through the set. One woman in particular was clearly audible in spite of positioning herself right up front by the speakers. Chalk one point for earplugs; at least they would have blocked that particular irritation.

The sound quality was actually very good during Yonderboy's set. The venue is tiny, but the levels were just right for the size of the room. It boded well for Frightened Rabbit who came on another hour later (yes, two bands in four hours. We saw 4 bands in that time at the Dead Like Harry gig a couple of weeks ago.)

Unfortunately the sound techs decided that what they really should do was make it LOUDER! Even my friends who don't have problems said it was too loud, although they could hear it perfectly. Sadly for me, the extra bit of volume rendered the whole gig as a wall of static punctuated by the occassional thud of a bass drum. Putting my fingers in my ears (I did not have my earphones) meant that I could actually hear properly, but it made drinking impossible and I looked a bit of a prat stood there, towering above the crowd with my elbows sticking out.

In the end I gave up. Four songs in and all I'd heard was noise. I went with 23inertia (whose was aching from standing for 3 hours waiting for them to actually get started) and sat in the back room on the big comfy sofas. In there, the sound was actually much better, muffled as it was by 2 walls. Even then, though, some of the songs were so loud I winced. I remarked to 23inertia that, had I not already given up, I'd have probably walked out at that point. If it's too loud when heard two rooms away, it's a sign that something is very wrong.

So I still haven't heard Frightened Rabbit. I could have listened while sitting in the quiet room, but frankly by that point the frustration and headache had proven too much and I'd lost interest. I do have some MP3s to listen to, though, so I'll catch up in my own time, at my own preferred volume.

Update: Apparently the timing issues were due to the agent, not the Leadmill. Future gigs may well be perfectly alright (as long as I remember my earplugs)

Words with Addiction

For the last month or so I seem to have become entirely addicted to a iPhone Scrabble clone called Words With Friends. I seem to manage to have 3 games on the go at once and, thanks to the iPhone notifications system, I can have near real-time access to this time sink of an app.

The game allows several modes of play, all of which are based on two players maximum. No mass games here; everything is one on one. You can play both players on the same physical device by passing it back and forth, of course, but there is also an asynchronous networked mode. Play against people you know, or ask the game for a random pairing with a complete stranger. There's always someone to play against.


Visually the game is very slick. The board and tiles and rendered very nicely, and the zoom mode to switch between letter placement and a board overview is handy. I wouldn't fancy playing all the time with the tiny overview mode. Dragging the tiles around is also done nicely. Just drag each one with your finger and drop it on the board. It doesn't sound like much, but having played online Scrabble before with some very odd input methods it's a breath of fresh air.

The rules seem a bit ... lax. Plurals are allowed for a start. American or British English spellings. And some randomness, including "adios". All the two letter words are present, of course. Handy for aligning words side by side.

One problem with this sort of Scrabble game is the built in dictionary. It makes it possible to just enter a random jumble of words and hit 'send' to see if it sticks. There's no challenge option so you can't even make your opponent lose out if you think they're making it up. I'm not sure how that could effectively be implemented in an asynchronous game like this, though. Maybe it's better left as is.

So yeah, I've got three games on the go today. One of them is a hand-over game against myself for practice purposes and to hone my skills. I might start a few more ...

Dead Like Harry album launch tour @ Plug, Sheffield - 27th Feb 2010

The time finally came; after what felt like months (but actually weeks) of waiting, the Dead Like Harry album launch tour came to Sheffield along with a trio of local bands to celebrate this momentous occasion. The evening started, like so many before it, in Tokyou for the traditional pre-gig meal of noodles and beer. After this, and almost on time for a change, our ragtag bunch of merry gig-goers made their way to the Plug, a venue few of us had visited before.

First impressions of Plug were mixed. Not being able to see the stage was the first puzzle, instead being greeted by a full length bar stretching down the entire of one wall. Music was coming from somewhere, though, so a bit of scouting put us in a very nice place right in front of the stage. Everyone seemed to be cramming further and further back, presumably not wanting to stand out from the crowd, but in a room as small as that it's not something I tend to worry about. I plonked myself front and centre and, within a few minutes, everyone else reluctantly joined me. I think they were glad they did.

The music I mentioned earlier was emitting from a diminutive lass on the stage who went by the name See Emily Play. This has nothing even remotely to do with the Pink Floyd track of the same name. I assume her name is Emily, but you never know. She is a pretty talented singer/songwriter, but clearly not used to gigging. That'll come in time, and her material isn't bad.

Next up after See Emily Play were Arkham Karvers, a self-billed reggae/ska/indie band. I wasn't particularly bothered about them after a lacklustre MySpace preview, but it seems that the sound quality did them no favours; on the night they were very good indeed. I wouldn't call them a reggae or ska band, although some ska influence was evident. Much of the sound was indie rock, but it was good nonetheless.

At some point during the set a strange little troup of what appeared to be 12 year olds took up residence in front of the stage. They were dressed like the Beatles circa 1978, with strange hair styles and funny little scarves to match. They turned out to be Searching For Evidence, and were apparently known to the band on stage. I had a listen to their stuff on MySpace too, but they might be better in three or four years. When their voices break.

Last support of the evening with indie rock band Kartica. First impressions were somewhat strange; the lead singer looked like a very angry fellow. We weren't sure if he was going to sing us a song or kick the crap out of somebody. Turns out it was the former, though, so that's okay. They were a decent enough band, but ultimately forgettable. With a bit more adventurous songwriting they could go much further.

And so the big moment finally came. Dead Like Harry took to the stage, gave a very brief introduction, and kicked off what would be an hour of almost continous music. For a young band with only a single album to their name, they were very professional on stage. The musicians were tight and clearly enjoyed every moment of the gig (especially bassist Robin Baker who lept around the stage like a loon). Singers Samuel Taylor and Alice Faraday were both superb from start to finish. I don't know how to begin to describe Samuel's voice. It has a certain quality that fits the musical style perfectly, but has to be heard to be appreciated. And quite how such a powerful voice emits from such a tiny person as Alice I don't know, but she's brilliant.

They played most of the songs from the album and really got the crowd going. Even some of the usually more, shall we say, static, audience members were clapping along with the band by the end. There is something about Dead Like Harry when they're playing live. An energy that many bands just don't quite capture. They might be very good, technically excellent, but there is an emotion in the music when Dead Like Harry play that is a rarity. For such an unknown band they play very big music, and can only be commended for it. The gig, like the album, was absolutely astounding. I predict very big things from this little band from the steel city.