Gig spree

You could say I've been on gig spree: in 9 days I've seen about 14 bands, varying from jazz to indie, from hip hop to folk, from garage rock to gypsy.

My spree kicked off by Fránçois & The Atlas Mountains. I had to battle the elements to get to this gig, but once inside the venue the atmosphere couldn't have been in greater contrast with the miserable weather outside. Fránçois and his boys gave an ecstatic performance, including synchronized dance moves and lots of percussion. I was shocked they opened with my favorite song, but it turned out this was the tamest song in their set! I loved the support as well: Stranded Horse, a singer-songwriter who, rather than plucking on a guitar, plays the kora, a West African instrument.

A few of the other highlights: the Dino Plasmati/Carlo Fraccalvieri Open Quartet from Italy that played some wonderful jazz music during the opening of my little exhibition, hearing folk-gypsy-jazz five piece Miss Maud's Folly  play during a special evening - curated by oldest-record-store-in-the-world Spillers - in the Cardiff Museum, and seeing Quiet Marauder play their kettles, pots, pans, box filled with stones, guitars and melodica TWICE this week. 

Fool by Miss Maud's Folly

A Gay Guy And A Dog by Quiet Marauder

  

Then last Wednesday I found out that my favorite Canadian rapper Cadence Weapon was in town that evening supporting Japandroids. I met Cadence Weapon aka Rollie Pemberton a couple of years ago when I was living in Berlin and was one of the five people who attended his poorly promoted gig in some dodgy club. After he'd finished his (awesome!) performance he shook the hands of all the five attendants. My boyfriend and I got chatting to him and took him to couple of bars in Kreuzberg and had a lovely evening. Much to my surprise he still recognized us after all these years, and we met again after the show for some drinks. We tried to get a nice picture of us, but this is the only decent one in which I look like an overly excited fan and totally uncool. Then again, that's exactly what I am.

I love his unusual flow and his atypical choice of samples and beats, taking lots from electronic and dance music. For his latest record, Hope in Dirt City (to be released next week) he's been working with friend and neighbor Grimes, so I'm expecting the hip hop boundaries to be pushed even further on this long player. 

To THEE Satisfaction

Seriously, this is the best thing I've heard in a while: THEESatisfaction - a couple from Seattle who have just released their debut album awE naturalE. Their music is an amazing mix of soulful vocals with spoken word like rap, funky grooves, loops, jazz, break beats and handclaps. And I am so happy I got to see them live with just a handful of people at record store Rise in Bristol yesterday!

THEESatisfaction - QueenS. Download it here or over at Subpop Records.

This convinced me to take the afternoon off and go on an hour long train journey to see them:

The thing with lists

I regret not having made a "Best of 2011" list. I'm a pretty obsessive list maker: shopping lists, to do lists, checklists, playlists... And I especially love end-of-the-year lists. What better way to reflect on the past year than to put it in lists? It raises all sorts of issues. Like what the hell have I been up to these last 12 months? With whom? Have my tastes shifted? What is it exactly I enjoy in this song or movie or book? Oh remember that gig?! Wait a minute, was that this year, or last year? What were my highlights and what were my lows? Etc. 

I know exactly the reason for the absence of my musical Best-of list. I just find it too difficult to put one song above the other, to put them in a hierarchy. I guess for me thinking about the list is more important that the actual countdown. But I do want to force upon you the songs from 2011 that I enjoyed the most (even though it's way too late - we're almost two weeks into the new year (yikes!)), so I'm just going to do it by presenting you a few in quiet random categories.

In the category Best Retro Indie Pop...

Cults - Bumper. Download it here.

Love the girl group sound. With a guy. 

In the category Best Fuzzy Guitar...

Male Bonding - Bones. Download it here.

Runner ups: The Drums, Wavves, WU LYF and Wild Flag (though not as fuzzy).

In the category Best Electronic...

Little Dragon - Ritual Union. Download it here.

This song was a revelation to me it was.

In the category Best Foreign Language...

Chucha Santamaria Y Usted - Fiebre Tropical. Download it here.

From Oakland of all places..

In the category Best British Alternative Rapper...

Ghostpoet - Cash and Carry Me Home. Download it here.

Overall Dels impressed me more with his album GOB, but then again his best singles were released in 2010. The fact that Ghostpoet's show was one of my most enjoyable gigs of the year puts him in favor here.

In the category Most Overlooked Artist...

Theophilus London - Why Even Try (feat. Sara Quin) (from Tegan and Sara) (RAC Remix). Download it here.

I've been madly in love with this guy from Brooklyn ever since his early mix tapes, that were full of The Smiths references. Every single tune he's released since then has been absolute quality. 

In the category Best Cover...

Spoek Mathambo - Control (Joy Division).

This was a tough one. I listend to Tennis' cover of Brenda Lee's Is It True? an awful lot. But it's the video for Control that has made me tip over to the South African.

For the Graca Da Silva's

Two of my good friends are moving to Bali next week (guess what my next holiday destination is going to be!) and we had a farewell party in their honor last Friday *snif*. The couple had asked me to supply them with some music for the night, which I happily did. She is Indonesian, he is half English/half Portuguese and they both have traveled the world extensively, which is reflected in their musical tastes.

Of course I played Dara Paspita for her (read about this Indonesian girl group here), and for him I selected some oldskool hip hop (as requested):

 

Eric B. and Rakim - I Know You Got Soul. MC/DJ combo hailing from Long Island, New York. Download it here.

and some contemporary dance music from Senegal:

 

Alif (Liberate Attack of the Feminist Infantry) - Douta Mbaye. All female hip hop group from Dakar. Download it here. Buy it from out|here Records.

and something Portuguese:

 

Batida - Yumbala. Lisbon's DJ Mpula mixes "the high speed rhythms of kuduro with sweet melodic guitar samples of '60s Angolan semba music" with some fine Angolan MCs on top. Download it here. Buy it from Ghetto Bassquake.

(and Survivor's Eye of the Tiger so there could be a push up contest, which for some strange reason has become a tradition at our parties...)