red sox w. the indians @ fenway park, 10/13/07

avoiding free music always kills me (oneida @ southpaw tomorrow night), but i've got a hell of an excuse tomorrow: i have two tickets to see the red sox whip the indians at fenway. now that the yankees are out of the way (cheers, cleveland) and my man beckett kicked serious ass tonight, carmona is the last serious challenge to the sox going to the world series again. i couldn't be happier. tune in to the game tomorrow at 8 to see curt schilling perform. check back in here on monday for a full week of live music posts, which kicks off on monday with a built to spill show from 1998 as well as some overdue reviews and a new artist from the leaf label.

kismet

fate is a funny thing, if you believe in it. chance occurrence, random happenstance, the bizarre and wonderful sense that the universe is colluding in your favor - a belief in fate can give a life direction and purpose. perhaps, if you believe in your destiny strongly enough, it can take you from a strict mormon upbringing to a life as a performer. i don't know if jesca hoop believes in fate, but her fairy tale-like history, as well as the title of her debut lp, kismet, certainly suggests that she does, and is grateful for its blessings.

an anglicization of the turkish word for portion or lot, "kismet" carries meanings that synonyms like "fate" do not, a sense of exoticism and mystery. "fate" and "destiny" have real-world application, but "kismet" is a concept firmly rooted in the preternatural, ethereal realm, a world where genies grant wishes and beggars become sultans, a world where the only limitation is imagination. kismet summons these ideas from the beginning, songs swirling and twisting, two, three, four disparate melodies all seamlessly crammed together. early album highlight "seed of wonder" is grounded in a seesawing cabaret guitar line, upon which hoop adds a m.i.a.-esque chorus and a harmony-heavy bridge, while internet fave "intelligentactile 101" is defined primarily through hoop's athletic voice part, an unexpectedly dynamic bass line, and a cascading harp. kismet is astoundingly diverse, building upon elements from handfuls of genres without ever descending into a mold.

hoop's history is important to understanding her music, borrowing, as it does, from styles ranging from reggae to folk and everything in between. hoop's mormon parents raised her on a steady diet of 60s folk, mainstream radio, and church hymns, though her teenage rebellion led her to artists like tom waits, kate bush, and bjork. fleeing her strict upbringing to california, hoop was offered a job that undoubtedly changed her life: a nanny position for the waits family. impressed by her precociousness and obvious talent, waits gave a demo to kcrw, and the rest, they say, is history. hoop likes to say her style is a natural result of her skewed musical upbringing, and that "when you strip down to raw elements, you actually can conjure up an original viewpoint," and she has nothing if not that.

kismet is both an amalgamation and a creation, a collection of songs so startlingly different that one nearly wonders whether hoop is schizophrenic - there are far too many ideas in these songs for one person to think up alone. though kismet's production does add a great deal to its ingenuity and mystery, its best quirks are hoop's own, whether it is the hushed scatting emanating from the left speaker on "out the back door" or the shape note harmonies on album opener "summertime." more often than not, her songs are illuminated by tangential guitars and ethereal choirs, to name but a few of the tricks up her sleeve, especially on the absolutely stunning "money." "money" is also one of the few tracks on kismet with understandable lyrics; hoop, more often than not, tends towards lyrical non sequiturs, preferring to value the rich sounds of vowels and consonants over any cogent sentences.

though at times disappointingly hit-or-miss, kismet tends to err on the side of brilliance. hoop's "mad music," as she calls it, is a bizarre and wonderful collection, tantalizingly abstracted and complex, imagined by a mind unhindered by conventionality.

jesca hoop - "out the back door"
purchase kismet from a fine local retailer.

jesca hoop w/ the ditty bops - live on kcrw 9/19/07
1. summertime
2. intelligentactile 101
3. enemy
4. money
5. seed of wonder
6. love and love again

subtle @ warsaw, 10/5/07

this show was a new experience for me, the first time i went to a gig purely to see an opening band. but what an opener! subtle, "the alpha band of doseone & jel," the masterminds behind mr. mammoth faces 13 & god, cLOUDDEAD, and themselves, brought their twitchy, spastic rap-rock to warsaw last friday night, supporting seattle's minus the bear on their national tour. still touring in support of last year's for hero: for fool and yell & ice (their upcoming remakes and remixes collection), subtle may also have dropped some songs from the forthcoming exitingARM. i was worried that subtle would have difficulties adapting their studio sound to the live environment, but they navigated those waters most successfully. fronted by doseone, a charismatic rap maniac, subtle ferociously tore through their forty-five minute set, doseone's rhymes blasting and the music churning.

i was (and remain to be) sincerely perplexed at subtle's spot on this tour. the college-rocking post-emo popsters in minus the bear bore no musical semblance to subtle's sound, and, were it but for subtle's far-too-infrequent touring schedule, i imagine most of their fans would have skipped this show. bookended by ela, a band that can be best described in the words of one audience member ("i think you're ok!") and minus the bear, subtle's inclusion in this tour can only be called bizarre. i got a chance to talk to doseone after the show, and he said he really appreciated the chance to get to meet new people, and, indeed, i overheard a passerby asked "who is that?" despite for hero: for fool's brilliance, it's critical reception was lukewarm at best, and subtle's desire to branch out is justified and understandable. however, minus the bear? i couldn't understand it at all.

subtle opened the show by paying suitable homage to brooklyn, to which the crowd reacted with expected positivity. while brooklyn is home to every other band in existence, it seems, and crowds enough to match, few expected the guest who came onstage for "deathful," a leaked track from yell & ice. maybe doseone needed to introduce tunde adebimpe, since so few people cheered when he announced the tv on the radio vocalist. adebimpe appeared and disappeared without a word or a wave, but their collaboration spoke volumes.

subtle's mystique is all-encompassing. from the eerie skull bust (painted with black and white stripes) at the front of the stage to doseone's velvet sash of plastic forks, subtle is stylized. enigmas permeate their live performance, their recorded work, their artistic presentation. yet, despite their seeming inscrutability, subtle (especially doseone) were accessible and friendly, chatting with fans before and after the show and manning the merch table, filled as it was with a half-dozen subtle releases, three or four solo efforts from doseone (including a book of poetry), and a solo album from jel. so rarely has prolific seemed such an understatement. killing time, i flipped through doseone's poetry, finding an image of the fork there as well. doseone was happy to explain the significance of one of subtle's most universal props, a piece of iconography cherished by fans. "the fork is the spirit animal of the american consumer," he explained, after having pelted the crowd with fistfuls of the utensil.

subtle's black and white aesthetic is visually profound and arresting, visible on both for hero: for fool's cover and doseone's chest (and, of course, the skull). less complex than the fork mythology, doseone explained subtle's preferred color scheme in a typically enigmatic fashion, calling black and white "the only real colors." though patently untrue, the stark juxtaposition of the two accentuates and emphasizes their aural dissonance. the skull is said to be of hour hero yes, a character who appears on both subtle LPs.

necessarily different from their studio work, due to the crippling injuries programmer dax pierson received several years ago, subtle's live performance is nonetheless captivating. with the exception of cellist alexander kort, every player in subtle multitasks, whether it is jordan dalrymple's triple duty on drums, guitar, and vocals, or marton dowers' mix of synth and sax. it was exciting to see subtle trade instruments every few minutes, let alone every song, but what was most compelling about the show (unsurprisingly) was doseone, and his seemingly endless array of props. the forks were really only the beginning. he frequently interacted with the bust of hour hero yes, going so far as to mime cutting its throat with a knife during one song. he toyed with a set of false teeth, another skull (this one resembled yorick), and a handful of other toys and gadgets too small for me to see. doseone twitched with an energy that could not be human - even cokeheads aren't this spastic. his veins standing out on his forehead, doseone continually vaulted from one side of the stage to another, rapping with incredible energy. in fact, getting pictures proved to be something of a challenge, as he rarely stayed still long enough to get a shot off.

subtle is art. you can disregard the mystery, the enigmas, the self-wound mythology, and you'd still have a fantastic band, but it would be only half of the band. subtle traffics in appearance - they really put on a show, an act for the viewer. it winds its way around your head, asking questions and posing hypotheses that are as much a part of subtle as their music. the live performance should always give you something more than a copy of an album; that's why you bother to see a band live. subtle brings everything they have to the table, throws it at you (along with a fork or two for good measure), and let you work it out. subtle is as much a visual and intellectual stimulation as an aural one, a provocative aesthetic they vehemently believe in. it's not a stretch to say that subtle stands alone - the only bands that sound like them have subtle's own members in them. if this tour is directed at new fans, and i don't doubt that it is, then subtle certainly deserves them.

subtle (feat. tunde adebimpe) - "deathful." buy all subtle merchandise direct from their store.

subtle - "f.k.o."

nina nastasia & jim white @ mercury lounge, 10/3/07

when you live in new york, the best part of being over 21 isn't being able to drink - it's being able to go to any concert you want. i suffered through high school and most of college, barred from a number of venues simply because i wasn't old enough to drink, and i hated every second of it. one venue i was most bitter at for its age restriction was mercury lounge, 21+ all the time. i couldn't begin to list the shows i missed there. but now, that time is over, and though i've been over 21 for a bit now, my first visit to mercury lounge was earlier this week to see nina nastasia & jim white, who recently released one of my favorite records of 2007, the stunning and unsettling you follow me.

nina nastasia has been flirting with the fringes of popularity for seven long years, since her first release, dogs. dogs became an underground sensation, attracting the attention of legendary dj john peel, who subsequently asked her to record four peel sessions. despite her echelon of respected admirers (among them is steve albini, who has recorded all of her albums), nastasia didn't really begin to take off until touch & go re-released dogs in 2004, on whose success came on leaving, released by fatcat, a stylized yet simple musical collection of everyday vignettes. despite her clear talent and songwriting gift, as well as on leaving's critical success, nastasia remained very much a dark horse in fatcat's stable. nastasia changed tack for you follow me, stripping away her usual accessories and adornments and giving longtime collaborator (and ex-dirty three drummer) jim white equal billing. the result is a record that is deeply unsettling while being characteristically beautiful, white's forefronted drumming dynamic and subtly sinister. though you follow me was released in august, the mercury lounge show on oct. 3 was the album's release party.

the show's original slate featured the band telepathe as nastasia and white's first opener, but, mere days before the gig, they were replaced by castanets. while unfamiliar with first light's freeze, castanets' most recent album, i was excited to see them perform. despite the theft of much of their gear earlier in the year, castanets completed two albums this year, in the vines and an as-yet untitled work, with the former being released october 23 on asthmatic kitty. touted as a herald of the "freak folk" movement, castanets' live show is most often distinguished by the impressive array of guests appearing with mastermind ray raposa. he brought five friends along for this show, including close friend phosphorescent on backup vocals, for a hastily cobbled together set. castanets' thirty minute set was played without a single break, the songs tied together by raposa's guitar, though the set's continuity was so seamless that i nearly believed that they had only played one thirty-minute long song. despite their manifest fluidity, raposa bemoaned the looseness of the arrangement after the show, though a crowd unfamiliar with castanets merely believed it to be a cornerstone of their stylistic approach.

unburdened by conventionality, castanets play songs that soundtrack dreams. ethereal yet grounded, directionless yet focused, i caught myself yawning several times throughout the set, though not from boredom - castanets made me want to become an adventurer in my dreams. raposa's voice carries southwestern inflections which echo through his music, which is homey and comforting, a woolen blanket of sound. from what i understand of castanets' modus operandi, no two shows are the same, since they rarely feature the same instrumental assemblage, and no doubt the next time i see castanets, it will be a different show entirely.

the next opener was secretary feat. big boss, a pseudo-office duo that would have been ridiculous if they hadn't been so good. office music is rapidly becoming trendy, or at least what passes for a trend in the indie scene. while not nearly as popular as "white" this season (white rabbits, white denim), office music is making a respectable showing so far, with chicago's aptly named office leading the way. a little more off the beaten path, we find secretary and big boss, playing a new kind of drum n' bass for the suited generation, except that it's more of a drum 'n bari (sax) kind of thing. formally titled secretary feat. big boss, the duo heavily play up the office theme, secretary dressed in a skirt suit and fishnets while big boss rocked a bowler, three piece suit, and lapel pin. their music also sounds appropriate for an wall street bachelor party, secretary's dark, sensual sax melodies fitting neatly on top of big boss's beats. performing songs from secretary's new release, the secret life of secretary, the duo's appeal was not only owed to their office gimmick; their tunes were deft, trading on the disparity between secretary's smooth sax notes and big boss's glitchy beats. the music is unmistakably secretary's (a.k.a. "moist" paula henderson of moisturizer), it owes much of its appeal to big boss. blending styles from glitch to rumba, his carefully chosen beats perfectly complemented secretary's sax appeal.

at least it beats a liquid lunch as a way to relax.

the same force that transformed nina nastasia's songs from wispy vignettes to unsettling elegies was also the best part of the show. seemingly disengaged and apparently bored, jim white was simply captivating - the most skillful percussionist i have ever seen. his arms and legs moved with an unnatural fluidity that rarely let my eyes stray to the front of the stage. white's contributions to previous nastasia records have been more utilitarian than exceptional, but his multi-rhythmic drumming last wednesday night was one of the most amazing performances i have ever seen. it simply confounded me with its beauty. we rarely think of drums as a full-fledged instrument, relying on them primarily as a timekeeper, their original function. but in white's hands, the kit onstage was transfigured into a dynamic force, buttressing nastasia's melodies but also elbowing their way to the front. it was an absolutely unique experience, to hear drums willingly prioritized over vocals or guitar. thought nastasia remained at the front of the stage, and she and white played her songs, it was a real collaboration we saw, where each took turns sharing the spotlight. such is the quality of you follow me, its most compelling element that you can't quite put your finger on. white doesn't merely add drum lines; he is as much a songwriter as nastasia, a remarkable station for a drummer. and, though his face reflected none of the excitement that i felt upon seeing and hearing the amazing, unique union in front of me, he showed that he could be jolted; his mask-like expression let down its guard only once, when a crowd member yelled "jim! you're hot!" even the stoic white couldn't help but laugh.

though he has worked with nastasia for several albums, you follow me is the first on which he has received equal billing, and rightfully so. his performance, both on that album and in concert, proved that his work on you follow me is not a flash in the pan; he is as much of a songwriter as nastasia is herself. despite his lack of showmanship, it's safe to say that white stole the show, sticks transformed into snakes.

the duo kept a very serious tone throughout the show, as was expected from you follow me's somber tone. nina nastasia, however upstaged by white, didn't seem to notice or care, lost in each song's trance. immaculately dressed all in black, reticent and focused, it was clear that, for her, songwriting is a labor of love. the two performed songs primarily from you follow me, but the biggest applause was reserved for older gems, reconfigured with additional drums. my favorite nina nastasia record is on leaving, and was gratified to hear both "dumb i am" and "our day trip," two of that album's most precious songs. their set closer, the inimitable "that's all there is," from the blackened air, was stunning and epic, the epitome of nastasia's ability.

buy you follow me from fatcat.

nina nastasia & jim white - "i've been out walking"

heima kicks ass.

end of story.

i managed to take a video of sigur ros performing "agaetis byrjun" as part of the pre-heima acoustic set.

sigur ros - "agaetis byrjun"

two gallants w. blitzen trapper @ gramercy theater, 10/2/07

jetlag or no jetlag, there was no way i was going to miss the two gallants show tuesday night. though two gallants has not yet gripped me in the same way that the throes or what the toll tells did, missing their inimitably raw live show is never a good decision. due to scheduling issues at connect, i had only seen their final few songs of their set, which just served to whet my appetite for a larger dose of their finger-pickin' despondency. sweetening the pot was an opening set by blitzen trapper, the portland, or. band that made a big splash earlier this year. while i have very little familiarity with wild mountain nation, the critical praise with which it has been received definitely sufficed as a reason for my attention. to top it off, the show was in the blender theater at gramercy, a venue which i had not yet been to, but that i hope to be returning to. though its ownership by blender and livenation give my conscience pause, it is simply one of the best new venues in new york. sporting a large standing pit as well as comfortable, inclined seating, the blender theater also possessed a very high quality lighting rig and excellent sound layout. with its wide, low stage, much of the crowd was able to stand very near the bands and almost see up their noses! the blender theater is an excellent venue simply because it can afford to be, without the grit and bootstrap significance of the knitting factory or the bowery ballroom, a space defined by its luxury.

as soon as blitzen trapper took the stage, i instantly stopped thinking about the wealth of the blender theater. the word is that blitzen trapper resemble pavement more than a little bit, and, i guess it's possible that's what the album is like. but no visions of malkmus were conjured during their thirty-five minute set - their influences instead seemed to range from radio country and power pop hits to the dismemberment plan and wilco. but, as their set progressed, it became increasingly difficult to label blitzen trapper. even before they started playing, their instrumentation hinted at something a little out of the ordinary; armed with four guitars (and three guitarists), three keyboards (two guitarists doubled as keyboardists), a tambourine, harmonica, and a rainbow of shakers and maracas, in addition to a solid rhythm section, it immediately seemed unlikely that the six-piece was about to launch into "summer babe," no matter what the reviews said.

despite the breadth of their instrumentations, blitzen trapper never lapsed into overabundance, keeping their songs tight and wiry. a testament to their precision is the number of songs they ran through - i put the number at fourteen. rarely speaking beyond the cursory "thank you" at a song's end, blitzen trapper was fast and furious...most of the time. while many of their songs could appeal to readers of no depression, that hallowed grail of alt-country, blitzen trapper have clearly put in effort to avoid becoming pigeonholed. though songs like title track "wild mountain nation" and "murder babe" were ripped through at breakneck speed, the tumbleweeds sprinting across the plains, others featured surprising mid-song noodling, a speed-jam session, displaying unexpected capability. despite the occasional breakout into uncharted musical waters, blitzen trapper played fast, fun alt-country, and warmed the crowd up for two gallants excellently.

it may well have been me - jetlagged, exhausted, and a pair of brand new earplugs - but it also have been two gallants. something just wasn't right. the show went off without a hitch, the almost-full house digging frontman adam stephens' every grimace and drummer tyson vogel's sweat-soaked shirt and hair, but it was a strange set. i often think affectionately of two gallants as the punkest band in show business, their DIY aesthetic more like dogma, but their performance lacked its usual violence - the duo seemed to have grown either complacent or too miserable to be angry anymore. technically, there were no problems, stephens' fingers and vogel's arms a blur, the show only pausing when vogel's ferocity broke his snare partway through the set. despite that, the show left me wanting - not more music, but the band that i remembered back.

currently touring in support of two gallants and the scenery of farewell, their recent acoustic ep, it was unsurprising that most of the songs were from those albums. two gallants didn't forget their longtime fans, though; they played a choice selection from their first two releases as well, including bruising versions of "long summer day," "las cruces jail," and "nothing to you," their final encore. two gallants delight in abruptly switching gears, switching from a tender depression to a no-holds-barred murder ballad without so much as a hint of warning, as they did early in the set with a seamless segue from "seems like home to me" into "steady rollin'." compared to some of their other transitions, though, that one was positively mild. while aurally exciting, their fondness for disparity can also snuff out all the energy in the room, which happened two times too often. it quickly became clear that no song would begin or end with any conventionality, pre- or post-logued by an aimless guitar solo. while there is no denying stephens' obvious finger skills (he used a pick only once during the set), by bookending their songs with meandering guitar, they squandered the intensity each song created. the multiple instrumental breaks, when vogel's drums fell silent, almost seemed like two gallants were thumbing their collective noses at us, especially as stephens performed a rather bastardized rendition of a john philip sousa march before two gallants broke into "two days short tomorrow."

i don't know if something about the crowd or the night threw two gallants for a loop, or whether their show is this distracted all the time now. something has been nagging at me about two gallants since i started listening to it, and i think i realized what it was at the show: two gallants are more depressed than ever. they aren't writing furious hymns and gunslinging anthems; two gallants is more a misogyny than a threat, with their fury drained out of them. whatever injustice prompted stephens to pen "long summer day" is no parallel to the jena 6, yet the most compelling songs on two gallants are about female betrayal, not racist lawmakers. two gallants now stake their claim in bars instead of graveyards, and the set they performed on tuesday echoed that discomfort and disappointment. musically, the set went well, even with the long, aimless solos; "miss meri" and set closer "waves of grain" were fantastic. yet, overall, the impression they gave was of two unhappy men who can't solve their problems because they aren't sure what they are.

FUN FACTS:

adam stephens no longer writes the setlist on the back of his hand with a sharpie.

thanks to the 16+ age restriction, the front of the pit was filled with doe-eyed high school girls gazing at stephens with unremitting lust.

tyson vogel drank an entire bottle of gatorade during the set.

blitzen trapper - "murder babe"


two gallants - "long summer day"

king creosote @ queen's hall, 9/29/07

though it holds over 1000, edinburgh's queen's hall felt more like a rather spacious pub for saturday's king creosote gig. shaggy, chronically unshaven, and humble, kenny anderson - the man behind king creosote and fife's fence collective - acted like the show was no more than a pub session, albeit it with a slightly bigger crowd. the prolific recluse was totally at ease for the entirety of his hour-and-a-half set, telling jokes and stories, and chatting comfortably with friends in the audience. the crowd seemed to be solid fence faithful, cheering on the pictish trail's impressive guitar solos and chuckling at inside jokes about lone pigeon (a.k.a. gordon anderson, kenny anderson's brother, who now performs with the aliens), while king creosote ate it up. one of their few gigs in scotland, and the only one near fife, the queen's hall was packed with friends, family and fans, who cheered the almost-hometown heroes on for two encores, the last song a raucous version of the aliens' "the happy song." king creosote delivered a set that was more exceptional than his recorded works, refashioning his languorous folk into exuberant rock without sacrificing the allure of old loves, playing them with an honest tenderness and tangible excitement.

virtually unknown outside the uk (and, until recently, outside of scotland), kenny anderson enjoys his anonymity. and while his latest bombshell was released by 679 records, a division of warner, it is unlikely that it was propel him to heights of fame - he joked during the set that it peaked at no. 98 before plummeting - and there's no denying that king creosote is perfectly happy with that. with around 900 people in attendance on saturday, one of the biggest crowd KC has ever played to, the overwhelming emotion one felt from the stage was fright. in his own report on the show, the pictish trail details the churning of his insides, and the first thing anderson said when he came on stage was "now, let's not pretend this isn't weird." but it wasn't, not in the slightest. in fact, it was a joy. i came without earplugs, expecting an even-handed folk show. my mistake. king creosote lost whatever fear they might have had as anderson sang, wailed, and bellowed into the mic with an intensity totally unheard on his albums. though the king creosote i saw played the same songs as the other one, there's not many other similarities between the one i saw and the one in my headphones, and i was thrilled to hear it.

before king creosote blew me away, however, emma pollock opened the show. beloved in the scottish indie scene for her work with the delgados and chemikal underground, pollock recently released watch the fireworks, her solo debut, to mild acclaim. she performed well to a good-sized crowd, though many of her songs seemed plain; warmed-over indie rock. her set was not without highlights however - her single "adrenaline" was very well received, churning and bouncing, and another standout was "acid test," an edgy song with a wickedly catchy backbeat. while nice, pollock's songs lacked zest, leaving an otherwise excited crowd stranded. though her stint as an opener was pleasant, her songwriting ability is not developed enough to make me want to hear more.

kenny anderson came onstage ahead of schedule, alone and looking a bit sheepish, to thunderous applause. deftly avoiding the praise with a few self-deprecating barbs, he picked up his guitar and opened the show with a stark solo version of "and the racket they made," bombshell's closing track. as we had seen at the avalanche instore earlier, a solo KC performance is folky and homey, and not far off from his album sounds. yet it was a calculated move, not giving away a smidgen of what the full band would unleash. anderson has been performing live with the same musicians for a while now - the pictish trail on guitar, uncle beesly on bass, and onthefly hitting the sticks - and their performance in edinburgh showed them to be not merely a touring band for anderson, but fully integrated members of king creosote, fleshing out its sound in ways anderson could never have accomplished alone.

with 34 releases under his belt, i fully expected not to know a single song king creosote played. however, they performed mostly bombshell tunes, anderson having played older fan favorites earlier in the evening at avalanche. but the crowd went wildest for songs from kc rules ok and rocket d.i.y., king creosote's previous two releases, like the boisterous "not one bit ashamed," the first full-band song KC performed, or its follow-up, "twin tub twin," which got some of the loudest applause of the night. but even cherished tunes became fresh in the able hands of the pictish trail. a fellow fence-r, the pictish trail's work has yet to cause a stir outside the fence community, but i'd wager that a lot more people will be paying attention after his guitar histrionics at queen's hall. whaling on his axe with a fury and brutality that would normally seem alien in an ostensibly folk gig (and that was obviously frightening to some of the more docile crowd members), the pictish trail nearly singlehandedly made saturday's show as good as it was. his distortion solos were as welcome as they were unexpected, but he was not the only dark horse onstage. uncle beesly, the bassist, was no mean talent either. not content to merely add depth to the KC sound, beesly produced intricate, compelling, and complementary countermelodic bass lines, adding to king creosote's live dynamism. i suppose it remains to be seen whether these changes are just live extras, or whether anderson is ready to shirk the "folk" classification that hangs to the fence master.

the set was exciting, due in a large part to the musical antics of the pictish trail and uncle beesly, but thanks mostly to kenny anderson. he joked about the pictish trail's testicles and what the durness town slogan ("don't go there") really means (it involves sheep), and had the crowd in the palm of his hand. changing from acoustic guitar to accordion, he cracked that "a real gentleman can play the accordion, but chooses not to," mere moments before launching into an epic version of "favourite girl." expected highlights were the single "you've no clue do you," "bombshell," and "at the w.a.l.," all from bombshell, but what clinched the show were the encores. yes, there were two of them. for the first, anderson once again came onstage alone, performing "admiral" to a hushed crowd and then "678" with the whole band to a giddy crowd. when they had departed, some time still left before the curfew, we waited with our fingers crossed and hoping hearts. but no one was expecting "the happy song," yet there is nothing else that KC could have played that would have been as good. tossing aside his moody troubadour guise for the evening, king creosote played what they themselves call "the best show of the tour by a million miles." all i can say is, i'm glad i was there to see it.

read the pictish trail's bandstand report for his perspective, along with a full setlist for both the instore and queen's hall sets.

emma pollock - "acid test." buy watch the fireworks from 4AD.

king creosote - "not one bit ashamed." support the fence collective.