Knowledge Hoover
Living life by 2 simple rules - 1). Don't be a dick. 2). Don't eat food bigger than your face.
Knowledge Hoover
Beautiful music alert!
Anathema - Sleep In Sanity
Taken from new album - ‘Falling Deeper’ - a collection of orchestral reworkings of some of their earliest songs.
Buy it from Amazon. Totally worth it.
Petter Carlsen - Pull The Brakes
Feat. Danny & Vincent Cavanagh (Anathema) and Anneke van Giersbergen
AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING.
1. Porcupine Tree - Royal Albert Hall - 14th October
An almost 3-hour long, career-spanning set of amazingness, including new album ‘The Incident’ played in full, and punctuated by rarely-played gems from way back in the day. Instead of having a support act, the band played a half-hour acoustic set to kick the show off, and without all the usual effects it was lovely to hear the intricate parts that each instrument plays.
Incredibly ambitious music on record and incredible to hear in live form, the RAH was the perfect venue to mark PT having reached new heights. Live recording (audio only) apparently to be released in 2011.
2. Janelle Monae - Shepherd’s Bush Empire - 5th December
Anyone who’s heard her incredible album ‘The Archandroid’ will have a fair idea of the fine line Janelle Monae treads between slightly unhinged and pure, unadulterated genius and the SBE show really showcased this. A seriously noisy crowd seemed enraptured by her performance, so loud throughout that at some points they drowned out the music. Changing up the order of album tracks JM delivered an impressively controlled and expressive vocal and exuded stage presence so strong that even as nuns and scary monsters danced around the stage, you couldn’t keep your eyes off her. A very close contender for gig of the year.
3. Rage Against the Machine - Finsbury Park - 6th June
RATM’s free ‘victory’ gig in Finsbury Park was everything you could hope for—loud, angry, proud and with a full-on festival vibe (though with far superior sound). With Gallows, Roots Manuva and Gogol Bordello supporting, the crowd were well and truly hyped up, and the snarling Simon Cowell cartoon that appeared on screens before the band came on had the crowd practically baying for blood. Those who had managed to get hold of the free tickets were not the only ones there though—halfway through, 200-odd people broke through the back gate and ran down into the crowd. The band breezed through all their biggest tracks leaving Xmas no.1 ‘Killing In The Name’ until last, the enitre crowd screaming the last refrain.
4. The Irrepressibles - The Scala - 30th September
The Irrepressibles are a strange sort of band to describe—a singer/guitarist with a ten-piece orchestra hardly seems to do them justice. Their album ‘Mirror Mirror’ is strange and beautiful but unfailingly theatrical—something that seems to make far more sense once you see them live. While not like an all-singing, all-dancing pop concert, the band are choreographed to precision in a way that completely complements, but never detracts from, the music. The ridiculous outfits make sense on stage, they are beautiful. A beautiful secret of a gig, unfortunately plagued by sound/electrical problems but that nonetheless, brought a whole new angle when re-listening to the album.
5. Anathema - Islington Academy - 21st May
Anathema played Islington Academy just before their album in ‘We’re Here Because We’re Here’ was released. All that had been heard of it was 5 short song clips on their website (and as it turned out, a few people had heard some tracks in full after they leaked), but it was a new, more positive band that emerged after the 7-year wait, looking confident and relaxed on stage and playing a long show with no support act which allowed them to dig out some fantastic tracks from their back catalogue. The new tracks sounded unmistakably like Anathema, but when played alongside older tracks, sounded full of hope and joy. Another gig that was unfortunately plagued by a few sound problems, the band dealt with it well and will be returning to London for another show in February.
Other honourable mentions:
Pearl Jam - Hyde Park - 25th June
Pearl Jam always put on an excellent show, and their 2009 show at Shepherd’s Bush Empire was the best I have ever been to. The Hyde Park show was everything you could want—with a career-spanning setlist and support from Ben Harper who later got up on stage with the band. However, this year, PJ don’t make the top 5 as it’s time for some new blood up there, and as PJ shows go, this didn’t stand out as much as SBE or their headliner at the Reading Festival.
Lissie - Heaven - 1st November
Relative newcomer Lissie has had a great year, with album ‘Catching A Tiger’ exceeding expectations. This gig showcased her formidable voice and marked her out as a talent to keep an eye on. Throwing the audience a curveball with a cover of Metallica’s ‘Nothing Else Matters’ was a nice touch too.
See also: Knowledge Hoover’s Top 5 Albums of 2010
1. Janelle Monae - The Archandroid
An incredible debut effort skipping from soul to psychedelia and everything in-between though always staying true to the story of the album—an android Cyndi Mayweather who is on the run because she fell in love with a human man, something that is forbidden. JM covers a lot of ground on this album but somehow it never feels like she’s doing too much, ‘The Archandroid’ reveals someone carefully treading the line between a bit nutty and a genius, and a voice I imagine we’ll be hearing a lot more from.
You may have already heard ‘Tightrope’
Have a listen to ‘Cold War’ (probably the most straightforward track on the album)
2. Anathema - We’re Here Because We’re Here
After a 7-year break, the band re-emerged with their most hopeful and positive album yet. Fairly spiritual tracks are beautifully arranged with string sections softening the guitars—clearly the band learnt well from their ‘Hindsight’ album which re-imagined their greatest tracks acoustically with a string quartet. ‘We’re Here Because We’re Here’ is an amazingly consistent effort and shows a much softer (though still intricate) kind of progressive rock.
You may have already heard ‘Everything’ (though I’m betting you haven’t)
Have a listen to ‘Dreaming Light’
3. Lissie - Catching A Tiger
‘Catching A Tiger’ is Lissie’s first full-length album and it’s a good ‘un. Like Janelle Monae, Lissie’s not your typical female singer either—this isn’t about tits and arse, Lissie’s all about jeans and t-shirts and drinking with the boys. With songs that are as summery and inoffensive as they come, it’s Lissie’s voice that makes this a stand-out album, sitting comfortably somewhere between Stevie Nicks and Neko Case.
You may have already heard ‘When I’m Alone’
Have a listen to ‘In Sleep’
4. The Pineapple Thief - Someone Here Is Missing
The Pineapple Thief are a band that I’ve kept an eye on for a few years now, and finally, ‘Someone Here Is Missing’ is the album I’ve been waiting for them to make. Sounding like a more angular Radiohead (circa. ‘Pablo Honey’) the album pushes the more exciting elements of prog rock into song-lengths that seem barely worthy of that label. But this album is more than prog rock, it’s more comfortable, less over-reaching and altogether more listenable. Take as a whole, rather than just parts.
You may have already heard ‘Nothing At Best’
Have a listen to ‘The State We’re In’
5. The Irrepressibles - Mirror Mirror
To describe The Irrepressibles as a singer/guitarist with a ten-piece orchestra doesn’t seem like an adequate description and feels like a disservice to such an interesting band. ’Mirror Mirror’ is a strange and beautiful album imbued with a theatricality that makes more sense once you’ve seen the band live, this is an album that is difficult on first listen—pushing you away with songs as loud and bombastic as ‘My Friend Jo’ then drawing you in with ‘I’ll Maybe Let You’, a pattern that continues throughout. There’s something irresistably intriguing in the songs though and the more you listen, the more intriguing they become. By the time you reach album closer ‘In This Shirt’ you realise you’ve found something incredibly special and set yourself up to do it all again.
You may have already heard ‘In Your Eyes’
You need to listen to ‘In This Shirt’ (instructions on how to have this song change your listening experience can be found HERE)
There’s a few clips of the new Anathema album ‘We’re Here Because We’re Here’ online now.
Have to say I’m very impressed listening to it. It doesn’t sound like it’s going to be as outright melancholic as previous albums and the arrangements seem to really have benefitted from the experience of the band previously working with a string section.
Overall it sounds like a real progression—very beautiful, perhaps a few goosebumpy moments, and perhaps a little more hopeful sounding. The vocals are soaring but restrained, there’s more of an exploration of tone in Vincent Cavanagh’s voice. There’s something about the production that hints at Steven Wilson’s (of Porcupine Tree fame) influence, though looking now, it seems he mixed it so that makes sense.
I’m genuinely VERY excited to hear this album in full. Favourite track so far: 04. ‘Everything’.
READ more: www.anathema.ws
