Broken Records – Live, The Caves Edinburgh, Thursday 31st January 2008
Sick of hearing about these guys yet? We’ll I’m bloody well not, so you can bugger off. I’ve been watching Broken Records for almost a year now, and coninute to be impressed. Their playing is getting better and better too.
It never ocurred to me when I first saw them play that there was anything at all rough about their performance, but watching them now they are so much tighter and more coherent as a group. A lot of gigs have been played this year and they seem to be functioning better and better as a group, which makes for better and better gigs. Their capacity for going from the heartbroken gypsy lament to a thunderous tornado of noise has been honed to a very sharp point indeed.
At this one they actually had something of a mosh pit going, but seeing as it was a student party that was hardly surprising. The audience loved them, but I actually think I preferred the response when I saw them play just before Christmas. Towards the end of the set Jamie asked if anyone had seen them before, and the cheer was huge – most of the crowd, it seemed. And then, during the dramatic pause towards the end of set closer Slow Parade, there was absolutely total silence, until the band broke into the last swirl of the song.
These people were fans and the knew all the songs. The students on Thursday were hugely enthusiastic and must have been great fun to play for, but I think that silence is what has most impressed me about the impact Broken Records are making in the city. There may even be an official single release on the horizon too, which is just brilliant news.
Broken Records – The Slow Parade
Broken Records – If the News Makes You Sad, Don’t Watch It
Slow Parade is fantastic love to hear more. Darryl in California/Lima, Peru
Well mate, you know what to do. Follow the link and buy the EP – I promise you it’s well worth your money.
my review is on the same lines as this. i enjoyed it but not as heartily as usual. plus the plethora of bow-ties put me off massively.
Billy, when you fill in your website details you need to add the whole URL http://spinsnneedles.blogspot.com otherwise when I click on it I get sent to some weird Australian knitting site, which I am guessing is not a site you write for on a regular basis. I’ve changed it for you now though, so don’t worry about that.
Actually, I loved the gig. I thought it started a bit slowly, but by halfway through I had broken into a fine old indie foot-tap, head nodding sway. But I’ve not seen them for ages now, so maybe that’s why I loved it. You might be suffering from gig fatigue!
Oh, and you’re dead right about the bow ties and the ‘meeja’ types. I forgot how little I missed being a student. Besides, I was at an art school, not some fucking repository for the terminally privileged so there was less of that sort of toss at my uni anyway.
hmmm i wasn’t so enamoured. I thought it was a little underwhelming soundwise. Usually they consume me whole but I didnt get that on Thursday. However, I agree, it got a lot better midway and, as ever, Slow Parade was hypnotising.
Australian knitting site you say? intriguing! all fixed up, i never noticed it to be honest.
Yeah, but The Caves is shite venue like that. That arch kills music dead. It’s a gorgeous place, but not great for the bands.
I think by about halfway through I was dead happy with things. But like I said, I’d been suffering withdrawal symptoms and haven’t seen them properly live for a while, because I was late to the gig before Christmas and it had been months before that.
The usual toegazing student lbpm, Scottish version, I’m afraid
Jesus Christ, are you out of your tiny little mind? Have you ever actually listened to music before or is this the first time you’ve ever treated yourself to some songs? ‘I do not like the tunes’ is an understandable reaction. ‘The energy passes me by’ is another. Toegazing? Fuck me, have you ever heard shoegaze? Have you ever even been to a student rock night?
Not liking a band is something that no-one ever has to justify. But making such a clearly imbecilic statement like that is just plain infantile. If you think that is toegazing then you clearly neither understand shoegaze, which is brilliant when it’s good, nor the music of Broken Records which is exuberant. You may not like it and you may think it is shit, and I wouldn’t ever argue that, but toegaze? Fuck me are you some sort of musical spastic?
They were awesome at Cab Vol last night supporting Okkervil River.
Ian just emailed me saying he had a bit of a ‘mare. But in a group with seven folk, maybe it’s less obvious!
Billy from Spins & Needles wrote a piece about them for Drowned in Sound which is really good, and really exciting for the band too.