The Twilight Sad/Popup/Dumb Instrument/Mouse Eat Mouse – Live, Bannerman’s Edinburgh, Sunday 19th August 2007
Ah, talk about a sweaty, drunken night of indie joy. Fucking marvellous. This absolutely brilliant lineup was presented by Jim Gellatly of XFM Scotland, and was every bit as good as I wish the T Break gig had been, despite the thick, men’s changing room aroma of a sweltering Bannerman’s. It was a brilliant evening though, with Rory and Gill from Broken Records and David from Kid Canaveral all coming along to check out the rather elusive Twilight Sad as well.
Mouse Eat Mouse - These lads are mental. Old school rhythms with sax and everything give a sort of ska-punk backing to the deranged stream of consciousness of frontman CD Shade. Genuinely an experience!
website | myspace | Mouse Eat Mouse – Tuim Tattie[audio http://www.matthewjamesyoung.com/sbt/MouseEatMouse-TuimTattie.mp3]
Dumb Instrument - I first heard about Dumb Instrument from Colin, who writes the wonderful And Before the First Kiss, when he posted their phenomenal track Reverse the Hearse, from debut single Songs, Ya Bass Vol. 1 but I somehow failed to quite guess what they would really be like. A duo in this case, with Alex Walsh-Todd [Edit: it was Mikey Grant actually - sorry] on keyboards and the remarkable Tom Murray on vocals. He looked a bit like a dapper version of George Clooney in Syriana, and produced an inexhaustible stream of wry, snappy Scottish poetry which glided perfectly over the top of Grant’s meandering piano, flavouring it occasionally with a little harmonica. I was quite looking forward to seeing them, completely surprised by what I saw, and yet completely taken with their performance. Keep an eye out for this lot.
website | myspace | Dumb Instrument – Reverse the Hearse[audio http://www.matthewjamesyoung.com/sbt/DumbInstrument-ReversetheHearse.mp3]
Popup - Quite how the fucking View are famous and this lot aren’t is beyond me. I may not love every song they’ve ever done, but they can bloody well write a tune. They are better than the Good Shoes/Books/whatever, better than The Wombats, and better than a host of other indie-pop disappointments whose pictures adorn the walls of the NME offices, covered in spunk from the feverish masturbation over their imagined genius. The lads write good songs, are excellent live and can actually bloody play. What more can you possibly want from cheery, dancy indie-pop?
Popup – Lucy, What Are You Trying to Say?
Popup – A Year in a Comprehensive
The Twilight Sad - A while ago I wrote a review of Viva Stereo and Mike from Manic Pop Thrills popped over to “confirm that they do indeed rock like bastards”, which has ever since been one of my favourite expressions to describe exactly this sort of gig.
Far more popular in the States, for some reason, than they are over here The Twilight Sad make a ferocious noise when they get going, and James Graham’s impassioned howl is absolutely spell-binding. Honestly, he looks like he’s experiencing some sort of demonic possession as he faces stage left, gazing at the ceiling and lets forth a torrent of Scottish rage. He’s not a talker, apart from half-apologising for not being a talker, but the spectacle of the music as it washes over him in spasms is quite amazing.
Whilst Mark Devine on drums looks like he’s performing a feat of athletic endurance, guitarist Andy MacFarlane rivals only the rather lovely Mia Clarke from Electrelane in terms of looking entirely nonchalant whilst creating an absolutlely phenomenal wall of noise. They both have their eyes closed half the time, and seem to channel their particular brand of cacophonous racket from a place far beyond the stage. Add to that the casual indifference – he could almost be reading the Sunday papers – of bass guitarist Craig Orzel and you have a rather weird but nevertheless wonderful spectacle.
As MacFarlane generates more and more terrifying barrages of guitar onslaught, descending occasionally into a faintly intimidating hum, almost like the sound of an enormous engine ticking over, before cutting loose with venom once more, Graham’s utterly gripping voice takes an absolutely vice-like grip of your heart and the four of them proceed to put you through the mill almost as powerful as that which Graham himself seems to endure.
They do indeed rock like bastards.
The Twilight Sad – That Summer at Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy
The Twilight Sad – Cold Days From the Birdhouse
I had never heard of Popup. Shame on me, they’re great!
That Popup is indeed pretty decent! Hey!
Twilight Sad’s bigger in the US?? They’re not even that big here – they only get praise from critics but the average person here’s not heard of them. In any case, thanks for posting that James Graham picture. I’ve got a big crush on him and his mood of silence.
He is quite fanciable actually, in an introverted, tormented indie rock god sort of way. Fine choice of crushes. Song, by Toad commends you
It’s funny you put it that way – when I saw them a few months ago, he didn’t talk and just sort of gave this brooding stare (when he opened his eyes or wasn’t dreamily facing the ground or ceiling), and when the vocal part of the last song was done, he wasn’t needed anymore so he stormed off like a child with his beer.
So I’m planning to go see the Twilight Sad in October when they come to DC. Glad to hear that I can expect some ear-punishin’, rockin’ like bastards, gray sweater wearin’ fanciableness. It’ll take nothing less to keep me up past my bedtime.
Definitely worth seeing, C&B – most enjoyable gig. Although try and go somewhere with ventilation.
China, I get the impression he’s quite shy, or at least that’s how he came across to me. Maybe just an arrogant rock tosser, but he didn’t really seem that way. I’m open to correction though.
I don’t think he seems arrogant, just sort of like a child who hasn’t yet developed social skills (you know, like the 4-year old boy who sits in a corner with blocks and stares at all the other kids as they ignore him?). All the more fun to watch, though.
I know what you mean. Being on stage seemed a mixed blessing for him. He seemed to love playing the songs, but also to find the presence of an audience slightly discomfiting.