Inside Nokia Music

What do you get when you take one hyped to high heaven indie band, a boat in Bristol, and mix them with loads of too cool for schoolers who mostly don’t even know the band they’re about to see? The answer: a one hell of a weird gig.

Yeasayer played the Thekla in Bristol the other night as part of their UK tour, and I had been looking forward seeing them headline a show since way back when in ‘07 when I first became aware of them. Since then, the band has created such a buzz on the internet, especially in blogs (coooey!), that everyone who’s anyone seems to be talking about them.

The gig was sold out, which should be a good thing, but in this case it was just a bit annoying.  All I wanted to do was to go the front and have a boogie, but to do so I had to elbow my way through the moronic, bored looking crowd who looked like they’d rather be anywhere else, arms folded, yawns stifled, the lot. I even heard the child next to me say at one point ‘totally should have listened to the second album dude’. Quite.

Anyway, so to concentrate on the band (who, by the by, didn’t even seem to notice the dull lackluster crowd and commented at the end ‘wow this is the best crowd yet in the UK!’ – errr yeh ok mate, best get back on that mineral water ey…). They played everything I thought they would, in much the order I thought, and perfectly too. The sound was spot on – not something I normally notice much – and they were really entertaining to watch both individually and as a group. The highlights were the old fave Sunrise, and then new single O.N.E. Big Jeff and I were dancing like loons by the time that came to an end, sweaty hairy messes the both of us.

So all in all it was a good show, just a shame there weren’t more real fans there to appreciate it and give them the support and encouragement they deserved.

Band – 10/10

Venue – 10/10

Crowd – 4/10, could try harder.

Here are a few snaps. Just look how fed up those balcony lot look – shame on them! And that’s me posing with the bands Bell, although I accidentally managed to ring it too which made the entire crowd turn to look at me in disgust and confusion – wicked!

You can download Yeasayers’s albums ‘Odd Blood’ and ‘All Hour Cymbals’ from the Nokia Music Store - if you’ve got  ‘Comes With Music’ , they’re completely free!

Anyone remember this sick short from Director Chris Cairns, Neurosonics Audiomedical Labs and a bevy of big name Turntablists, MC’s and a Beatboxer (credits)? Well, now the concept’s been brought into the realm of the live performance with some truly mind-blowing results… enjoy!

Reading up on Jesca Hoop before watching her perform left me none the wiser. Brought up by strict Mormon parents in Wyoming she rebelled and headed to California, where she ended up as a nanny to Tom Waits’ children. Waits, not a man prone to endorsing other artists, described her music as “like swimming in a lake at night”. After a while honing her whimsical kookyness on the LA circuit she moves to Manchester, England where she becomes good friends with Guy Garvey of Elbow.

Supporting the much lauded, and slightly disappointing Fanfarlo, she owned The Thekla, bringing the heaving boat to a solemn hush.

More on Jesca at The Guardian

Long before the NME, Nick Grimshaw or Zane Lowe started sniffing around and putting their grubby mitts all over him, Darwin Deez was sat in a small Brooklyn bar called Pete’s Candy Store, waiting in line to share a few songs with the back room’s weekly open mic night crowd.

It’s April 2008. I’m in America with life-long friend Chris Taylor, at the start of a dream that we’d shared since we were kids to travel across the country. Three nights into our trip and we find ourselves in the Williamsburg neighbourhood of Brooklyn. As Chris wanted to play a few open mic nights while we were in the country, we sought one out at Pete’s Candy Store, and signed up. Our host was this guy who reminded me of Kurt Russell, and introduced Chris as ‘Chaz Taylor’, which broke the mellow vibe of the candle lit red room when ‘Mr Russell’ was corrected, much to the amusement of all in the room who later on went to dedicate songs to ‘Chaz’.

Everyone took their turn, everything was nice and everyone was pleasant with their appreciation of each other’s music; until Darwin Deez took to the tiny old fashioned theatre looking stage, which was now lit up like a dressing room mirror. Gently introducing himself with a soft, effeminate voice, he starts playing Deep Sea Divers. As soon as the opening lines leave his lips the room is transfixed, “You and I are deep sea divers on a task; little bubbles rising from your scuba mask”. What a wonderful picture to create, and delivered so delicately, but just as everyone settles into the idea of two underwater lovers, friends, or foes; Deez crushes our pretty little picture with his melancholic chorus of “You’re bringing me down, now I’m blue, now I’m in deeper too”. It felt like I was watching a revised incarnation of Prince, this guy was incredible. After just 3 songs played on an electric guitar strung with only 4 strings in his own invented, secret tuning (Deep Sea Divers, Radar Detector, and Constellations – ), the whole room is in love; everyone parting with $5 in exchange for a homemade 5 track Darwin Deez CD, straight from the man’s hands.

The night came to an end at Pete’s Candy Store and we were told of another open mic night a few blocks over at a bar called Matchless, where Darwin Deez was again waiting in line to steal the show. It seemed we were about to witness a whole new level of musical celebration rarely seen at your typical open mic night. Deez decided to demo a new song he’d been working on by plugging his iPod into a guitar amp and dancing his way through the track (he’s known to often do similar with custom pop mash-ups). I’m not just talking about a little bop either, it was a full on choreographed routine which also saw him behind the drum kit for a few bars. You had to be there to fully appreciate the raw showmanship that was taking place in front of next to nobody in two small Brooklyn bars on a Sunday night…but it kinda went something similar to this:

After he played, I bought him a pint and he came and sat with me and Chris in a booth, asking questions about Coldplay and Foals, talking enthusiastically about England and how he’d like to visit someday.

Darwin Deez ended up soundtracking our drunken first night in Philadelphia, our flight to Austin, our 8 hour Greyhound ride from San Francisco to L.A., and the sad return to England. We must have quoted Deez lyrics every hour of everyday for the rest of the trip, most often to remind each other that we were in fact “a radar detector”.

So, Darwin Deez faded into obscurity since April 2008, right? Well, not exactly. The very clever and insightful people at Lucky Number recently released Deez’s first 7” – the painfully catchy Constellations – on a limited run of 500 copies. And on top of that, he’s due to make his First UK appearances in March with 3 shows in London:

9th March 2010 – White heat @ Madam JoJo’s
11th March 2010 – XFM X:Posure @ The Barfly
13th March – Westminster Reference Library

When I fall in love with a new band or an artist that I know very few have heard of, I find myself stuck in a strange mode of selfishness. I want to keep what I’ve just found under wraps, to keep it exclusively mine. I want to have my moment with them; I don’t want the world to be exposed. I get that “she only has eyes for me, hands off my girl!” kind of teenage crush feeling. Well, it’s time to let my ‘girl’ grow. If you love someone, you’ll set them free. Go and fall in love with his infectious creation of – in his own words – “happy music for sad people / white music for black people”.

Enjoy Darwin Deez.

I’ve been making music and then playing it to varyingly attentive audiences for a few years now. During that time, I’ve been lucky enough to travel all over the world, playing on the same bills as some of my all-time heroes, and unlucky enough to play in Newport to a single drunk woman who fell over halfway through my set, then walked out.
All in all, being a musician has been a mixed bag so far. But one thing has always remained constant. Touring has always been fun.
Maybe it’s because I get to divest myself of all normal responsibilities for a couple of weeks. Or maybe it’s because I get to live like my childhood dreams managed to find their way through the grind of real life and actually come true. Whatever it is, touring has provided me with some of my most memorable musical moments.
I remember clearly the time I gave myself concussion onstage during my very first festival gig abroad, for example. I hit myself in the head with a brand new Fender Telecaster, then had to go to bed early and confused. That’s one to tell the grandkids.

I also once spent quite a bit of time searching for (and utterly failing to find) Bjork backstage at The Electric Picnic.
True story, that.
True, incredibly dull, story.

Then there was the time I nearly got shot in America.
Yeah, that’s right. Shot.
Probably.
Here’s what happened:
I was in Hollywood to do a live session on a radio station. Which I’m aware makes me sound both unexpectedly professional and like a massive, bragging tool. Well, I can’t help that. I’m trying to set the scene here, OK? I’m using all the storytelling skills at my (admittedly limited) disposal, so go with it.
Anyway, I was there for a few days, so I thought I’d take a look around Hollywood, and see what it has to offer. Turns out, it actually has surprisingly little to offer unless the infantile rantings of L. Ron Hubbard play an unhealthily large role in your life.
I was wandering back to my hotel room one evening when five or six police cars suddenly screeched to a stop just in front of me and a dozen or so policemen bundled out, all armed to the teeth.
Various weapons were brandished, including two honest-to-goodness shotguns, held by the smuggest-looking people I’ve ever seen outside of Lynx commercials.

Now. . .I’ve seen a lot of films in my time. I’m pretty sure that everytime this sort of thing happens in a film, at least one of the policemen (usually the chubbiest, friendliest, and unarmediest one) spends a bit of time ferrying the general public to safety whilst the others pump their shotguns, cock their hammers, and do a number of other things that sound suspiciously like euphemisms for being gay.
Not so in real life, apparently.
They all just lined up either side of the door that I was approaching. The door to Hollywood High School, as it happens.
I was already clearly in the line of fire if a crazed, coked-up schoolkid burst through the doors waving his father’s Uzi around with reckless, deadly abandon. And by now, I was pretty sure that was exactly what was going to happen at any second.
So, put yourself in my shoes for a second. You’re English, and as a result, you have had literally ZERO experience of guns so far in your life. Suddenly, you’re faced with about 10 of the bastard things. What would you do?
Here are your options:
1) Run like a shreiking, effeminate maniac. This incurs the scorn and ridicule of the gathered crowds who all seem to be calmly filming the stuff of your nightmares with mobile phones from across the street. On the plus side, you might not die.
2) Walk slowly and casually onwards like you see this sort of thing every day, thereby remaining cool in the eyes of the people you’ll never meet again, but possibly getting a bullet through a part of your body that really works better without any holes in it.

I tried, unsuccesfully, to combine the two. I casually, yet quickly, crouch-walked to safety like a petrified duck, thereby remaining a potential target for longer than necessary whilst simultaneously retaining not a shred of dignity.
Here’s what I learned that day. . .
Guns are terrifying, and can often lead to socially awkward situations in front of strangers.

Now, you may be wondering why I’ve just told you all this. Well, it’s because, in a week’s time, I’m going on tour in Germany and The Netherlands, and I’ll be sporadically blogging about it here, as well as on my myspace (www.myspace.com/cajita).
Hopefully, I’ll have some interesting tales to tell. Maybe I’ll actually get shot this time, and have a story that reaches some kind of conclusion, rather than just petering out uneventfully.

Who knows?

Skunk Anansie wrapped up their Greatest Hits tour in Skin’s home borough at the O2 Academy Brixton to a rowdy crowd of revelers, I figured they must have been rowdy as the minute I entered the venue queue I suffered endless annoyance from overly aggressive security staff right up until show time, which then takes the duration of staple tour opener Selling Jesus for me to overcome and return to high spirits.

Anger averted, my legs take control and throw my body wildly about the immediate area to the possible annoyance of my immediate neighbours, but I selfishly don’t concern myself tonight as I’m celebrating my 5th Skunk Anansie gig with a friend who forfeited 2 of their earlier career gigs.

Tearing through a similar set to the Electric Ballroom gig I reviewed recently, I keep turning to my Skunk’s virgin excitedly repeating: “You do know what’s next don’t you, huh…huh?” especially during my previous gig highlight of On My Hotel TV and The Skank Heads back to back, only this time Tear The Place Up adds a little more meat to this already life-threatening mixed grill sandwich.

Once again the encore slow burns with ballads both old and new before terrifying security with a stage invite to limited audience members for anticipated closer Little Baby Swastikka, culminating in Skin stage diving from Mark’s kick drum to the stage collective.

Hanging around after the lights come up for our backstage passes, the band do a surprise second encore and treat us to a performance of Secretly and praise the attendees for outstanding audience-ship and make their final exit.

Backstage I manage a quick word with my all time drum hero Mark Richardson, and as with Bass player Cass lewis before, I again fail to draft another troop in my battle to convince a future play of personal Skunks favourite Decadence Of Your Starvation, a song that I feel is extremely relevant in the worlds current fashion climate… Mark say’s to me: “Good choice, but keep dreaming”… Sadly Skin isn’t keen on the b-sides.

- Gaz

Let me drop a little news on you: the Inside Nokia Music blog is growing. I’m Mike, the first of a new bunch of chancers who’ll be joining Gaz here, regaling you with musical anecdotes, factoids and opinions. This is actually my third post – I’m the guy writing about Mary-Louise Parker and Muppets rather than Rihanna, and I’m going to keep that run going here. Just.

Because it turns out that among the big-name guest stars (and with nary a J, Z, or Y to be seen in his name) playing at she-who-will-not-be-named’s album launch last week was Nuno Bettencourt, guitarist extraordinaire and member of Extreme. Turns out he’s going to be Rihanna’s lead guitarist on her world tour, which is only the latest in the series of bands, guest spots and solo projects that Nuno’s been involved with.

While Extreme was part of this last year’s band-reformation craze (and the only one I was genuinely excited about), Nuno’s Population 1 album (2002) marks his creative high-point. A deft mix of musical styles, incorporating everything from electronica to metal to irreverent pop, he wrote and performed the entire thing pretty much on his own. Joined by Kevin Figueiredo (drums), Joe Pessia (bass) and Steve Ferlazzo (keyboards) for live shows, the four would release a 5-track EP Sessions From Room 4 in 2004 and performed here on The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson:

A year later Population 1 became Dramagods, releasing just one album titled Love, in 2005. The release received relatively little interest outside the Far East, but Nuno’s always retained an enthusiastic fanbase in Europe eager for anything he’s involved with. The Rated R tour will, I suspect, have to sustain most of them until Extreme hit the road again, hopefully some time in 2010.

- Mike

It’s what you been waiting for, 3 more of the high quality official videos from the Rihanna Rated R album launch party live from London with special guest appearances by Young Jeezy and Jay-Z… Woop Woop!

Hard ft. Young Jeezy

Live Your Life/Run This Town ft. Jay-Z

Umbrella ft. Jay-Z

For some of the new readers who may not know, Rihanna teamed-up with Nokia to launch her new album Rated R with the shindig to end all shindigs at The O2 Academy Brixton (lovingly known by most as Brixton Academy). Rihanna did a sweeping set of classics and selected new tracks that were performed live for the very first time. The entire set was live-streamed from the event for the world to see.

Some of the more cunning fans already know these official videos are out there and have been hitting them up like free candy, those of you don’t… here’s what’s available so far in glorious high definition and sound quality to match.

Photo courtesy of flickr user mandynau

The first thing I have to say about seeing Muse live for the 4th time is that it was easily one of my top 2, the other being at Wembley Arena back in 2003 for the Absolution Tour. The reason for this is the absence of primary tour musician Morgan Nicholls, I’ve got nothing against the dude and I understand the necessity for him as well as “The Trumpet Man” Dan Newell on the Black Holes and Revelations Tour, it’s just that part of the biggest attraction I have to Muse is the size of the sound the band are capable of creating as a 3-piece alone!… and it’s this experience we’re treated to tonight, at least for this phase of The Resistance Tour.

Show time reveals 3 towers standing at approximately 50′ and clad in LED screens lit up to resemble sky-scrapers. As each band member appears on a platform in the centre of the individual tower columns they open their set with the first new-album-single Uprising… the odds of a bet placed on this paying dividends are low, but non the less Muse are out of the starting gate at a gallop.

When touring for a new album it’s always a good idea to smash out 2 new songs back-to-back, and they do just that by following up with semi-title track Resistance. I’m not sure if it was just me but I’m pretty sure they had to improvise a timing correction during the opening sustained guitar interpretation of the synth key intro but ultimately came out on the other side shining.

Of the ever dwindling track count from Origin Of Symmetry I was particularly pleased they hadn’t dropped New Born from the setlist. As it blitzed through at a higher BPM than those tragically slow versions during the Black Holes and Revelations Tour it was certainly the perfect excuse for the potentially life-threatening laser show assault it accompanied and was followed by a jam I’ve come to learn is known as Headup Riff, one of the several new interlude jams that Muse littered their set with tonight baring some similarity to the famed Osaka Jam from the previous tour.

As my favourite Black Holes and Revolutions track, Map Of The Problematique is a welcomed sound and sets off my awkward and often embarrassing-to-friends need to air drum, but is sadly vaporized by my childish need to predict the next song before my gig companions (big-up to my man Carl!) and I pick it again as Matt Bellamy intro’s Supermassive Black Hole with he same I’ve-never-known-what-it’s-called-theramin-guitar-pad-thingy effect just as he did for those I’m-sorry-for-you-if-you-didn’t-attend Wembley Stadium shows.

Now I’ve heard a lot of people saying they’re not to keen on Invincible, sure some moments in the track are a little cringe-worthy but I find it’s worth the Middle-Eight Bass into and including that epic finger-tapping solo… but they don’t play it tonight! Thankfully an immediate relative of the song comes in the form of highlight-of-the-evening-for-me-tune Guiding Light. A song that I have no doubt will be absolutely hated by far more people than is justifiable. Nobody makes songs like this anymore, they’re era-forgotten and they’re over-the top, but Muse had the audacity to make such a song and that’s one of the reasons I love them so damn much.

After Guiding Light’s display of love and affection they play Absolution’s Interlude which raises the excitement as it’s an obvious indication that Hysteria is imminent… and they don’t disappoint as the stage columns appear as skyscrapers again, only this time they’re crumbling down as Chris Wolstenholme tears through the song’s ridiculously obscene beast of a bass line.

Interestingly, they play the Unintended b-side Nishe, which brings a brief calm to the arena before playing our first new-album-sound-bite-track United States Of Eurasia with imagery of a fragmented atlas and a collage of passport photographs collected from fan submissions on Muse’s official website, followed by an extremely well received Feeling Good and Unintended as well as another new interlude, Helsinki Jam.

After some debate about the colour of Matt Bellamy’s trousers with my gig buddy Carl, I begin to lean toward his argument and settle on Pink as Matt moves up stage with a Keytar for the performance of current single Undisclosed Desires.

Starlight gets the 1-2-1-3 hand-claps going but gets me paranoid as usual that the less-than-coordinated may embarrassingly throw the band out of time, but all works out fine in the end and they follow with the probably-never-won’t-play-at-a-gig Plug In Baby, complete with giant confetti-filled balloons. Surprisingly it’s Time Is Running Out that makes the standing area pulsate more than any other track here tonight and It’s Unnatural Selection that triggers my bizarre hybrid air guitar and drumming again.

Encore… and Chris steps out in the Captain America suit I was expecting him to wear for United States of Eurasia. Tragically Dom Howard wasn’t in his Spidey suit and there’s been no hint that Matt may be sporting a Marvel costume any time soon, something I’d have paid good money to see during this performance of Exogenesis Part 1: Overture. As incredible as it was, this is where the 40 piece orchestra that did the recording would have made it an unforgettable experience, but I guess we’re going to have to wait and see if this will be the case at Wembley Stadium 2010.

Stockholm Syndrome rocks the house to it’s foundations and features another new interlude War Within A Breath Riff with Chris joining Dom on his drum riser as it’s raised and rotates for the duration of the jam.

After a brief blackout we see Chris lightly spot-lit as he blows a single monotonous note with an harmonica, conjuring up the intro to show closer Knights Of Cydonia. Once again, it’s probably just me but I think the intro may have been extended a few measures… or I got lost in space and time somewhere between here and the songs intergalactic western world.

Great show, sound and performance!… unfortunately no Citizen Erased, no Piano version of Cave like on so many of the other shows on this tour and most heartbreaking of all, No MK Ultra!… I guess I’m just going to have to watch them again!

Edit this setlist | More Muse setlists

The Resistance and new single Undisclosed Desires are available to download from The Nokia Music Store