Let's just get this factoid out of the way: Feist wasn't there. :-( (If you weren't already in the know, Feist contributed vocals to two KoC tracks, "Know How" and "The Build Up", off their most recent CD "Riot On An Empty Street".) However disappointed I was with Feist not being there, the show was still mighty fine. Considering that I'm pretty new to King of Convenience's music, I was surprised how fast I warmed up to their music. The 'folk' tag I keep reading about doesn't really ring true for me. Their music's primarily acoustic guitar based but their music's much more of a pure pop form(albeit, very hush and gentle) than anything else. In my opinion, the 'folk' tag is just pure laziness. Actually, Kings of Convenience are quite akin to fellow Norwegian, Sondre Lerche. During the show, there were bits of bossa nova rhythms, exquisite guitar playing(with a stab or two at keyboards), and lovely melodies strewn throughout. However, rather than the crooner-esque vocal style of Mr. Lerche, the Kings of Convenience boys had a quiter vocal style akin to say Belle and Sebastian's Stuart Murdoch. With Erlend Øye feeling a bit under the weather, he ended up walking off stage several times leaving partner Eirik Glambæk Bøe to continue some songs solo. Eirik took up an audience member's spontaneous request for "Norweigan Wood", taking a minute to figure out the guitar chords, before launching into an impromptu(and quite good at that, save for some forgotten lyrics) version of the Beatles' classic. Erlend did eventually return to the stage much to the relief of the crowd. As the evening went along, Erlend's nerdy charm came out. Erlend busted out the dance moves(like Napoleon Dynamite getting funky), picked up the microphone for some crooner-esque vocal technique and goofily gazed out into the audience. Erlend charmed the crowd with some funny comments, including a request for the audience to not buy drinks during their set because the clinking glasses were noticably audible. Eirik humourously added that if we had to buy drinks, then at least to get drinks without ice cubes. Har de har, har. Some audience participation added flavour to the evening, most notably when Feist's vocal parts of "Know How" came up. (I was towards the front of the stage, and I'd like to compliment whomever that girl was near me who was enthusiastically singing along to several of the songs; you have a really nice voice.) Overall, an impressive show. And if "Quiet Is the New Loud" , then this one's still ringing in my ears. [photos]For more on the show, check out SHOT.
I decided to check out the early show of Apostle of Hustle, with opener Peter Elkas, this past Friday at The Drake Hotel in Toronto. If I have anything interesting to say about the show, it'll have to be tomorrow. Mental block, you know. For now, here are some photos.
Apparently, the webcast quality was shitty but impressions of Portishead's performance at the Crisis In Asia benefit gig in Bristol, England over the weekend have been mostly good. A second show was added tonight[February 20]. I'm hoping a torrent(audio and/or audio/video) of one or both of their performances turns up sooner or later.
Ben Lee will be on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic on February 28th for a full band performance. Morning Becomes Eclectic airs 9am-Noon Pacific Time. He will also appear on Late Night With Conan O'Brien on March 2nd to perform "Catch My Disease".
Couple of Arcade Fire-related goodies:
- Quicktime clip of the band performing on children's show Pancake Mountain [link from Largehearted Boy]
- Bradleys Almanac has a fan video(set to studio version of song) for Arcade Fire's "Wake Up" [link from chromewaves]
And maybe I'm going to regret this if I don't end up getting a ticket because of a mad rush for tickets, but I thought I'd share that Arcade Fire will be at Danforth Music Hall in Toronto on April 27th. Tickets on sale February 24th at 10 am. [news from 20hz and Ticketmaster.ca confirms this!]
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