Picking bones
In preparation for 10 days at the Edinburgh Festival, I've spent the last seven being a serious culture vulture.
It all started last Friday with a trip down to Recyclart, the alternative club located in Bruxelles Chapelle railway station (which is still used, if irregularly, during the day). Every July and August Recyclart stages a series of gigs and club nights dubbed Fridays Holidays. Having missed 'Duran Duran Duran' the previous week (you'd have to go some to live up to a name that good), the August 11/12 line-up began with two local bands playing outside (the dreadful improv of I H8 Camera followed by the slightly better Creature with the Atom Brain (at their best operating somewhere in the hinterland between The Cramps and Sepultura, at their worst, a bunch of musos with a Shockabilly album and an effects rack).
Things started to hot up at midnight when we moved indoors to the station concours ) for the 'Kill all Hippies' club night. The Franco-Belge no-wave/disco primitif of Lawrence Wasser was pretty rewarding and the image is great - spangly tops, jump suits and face masks, topped off with bunny rabbit ears and tails. The masks are especially cool - covering just the cheeks and nose they have the effect of making the band look like identical mutant triplets.
The Ludes are a big noise with those looking for another Libertines or Arctic Monkeys. They're not as good as either, but they're still good. Despite some shocking sound problems, they still got the audience rocking to tracks such as 'Mr. Benson' and 'Dog don't bark'.
The Longcut were the final band but I didn't stick around. The records sound like Northside playing New Order. (I caught a bit of their soundcheck while avoiding I H8 Camera and, fittingly, they were playing the intro to Joy Division's 'Transmission').
Sunday and Monday evening were spent at the Markt Rock festival in Leuven, a three-day event centered on the famous university city's Oude Markt (old market), a beautiful 17th century square. The Sunday line-up included Postman (average funky hip-hop from Holland), Bjorn Again (a 90s joke that doesn't know when it isn't funny anymore) and Bloodhound Gang (surpisingly they have more than two songs. Even more surpisingly, they were pretty good, even coming up with a series of amusing captions (in Dutch) about Flemish culture). Top of the bill were Iggy and The Stooges, although, because everyone else had run late, I only caught the first four numbers before having to catch my train. What a quartet though - 'Loose', 'Down in the City', '1969' and 'I wanna be your dog'. Great stuff.
Heavy, heavy rain on Monday meant a delayed start from Brussels (would you get soaked for the Stereo MC's [sic]?) Arrived just in time to see Daan, a falsetto-friendly disco/rock/electronica hybrid fronted by Flanders's answer to Jarvis Cocker. I had never heard of, let alone heard him/them before, but was quite impressed.
Top of the bill though, was that most theatrical of pop groups, the Pet Shop Boys. With an excellent new album to showcase, and the magical setting of the Oude Markt (Neil Tennant called it 'The most beautiful place we have ever played'), the Boys and their backing singers and (brilliant) dancers put on an excellent show.
The stage set and lighting were brilliant - the main part of the set was a series of foldable interconnected wooden frames with scrims for projecting images onto. A simple yet ingenious construction that allowed all manner of creative possibilities, without slowing the pace. The set and lighting were complemented by some neat costume changes - Tennant began 'Psychological' dressed as a Victorian undertaker and ended up (for 'The Sodom and Gomorrah Show', 'Integral' and 'Go West') as a Five-Star General. Lowe, of course, wore the same flourescent green (Walter Van Beirendonck?) hoodie throughout and didn't utter a word.
'It's a sin', 'Opportunities', 'Rent', 'Shopping', 'Left to my own devices': Most of the Boys' biggest and best hits were given an airing. By the end, an initially lukewarm crowd was clapping in unison and hollering for more.
My week of culture was rounded off by a trip to the movie house to see Michael Mann's 'Miami Vice'. I never liked the TV series, so, unlike many people it seems, I was glad the film didn't try and replicate that tedious formula. It's a good, not great, action movie was some high-quality cinematography and a decent plot. Jamie Foxx is good and I really liked the character played by Gong Li (a nice update on the gangster's moll archetype). I think Colin Farrell is crap and his mullet and 'tache combo made him look like a mechanic from Pittsburgh who wore his Armani suit like it was a pair of beige chinos and a polo shirt. Not cool. Yet, despite him and some confusing editing, I still enjoyed the film.
It all started last Friday with a trip down to Recyclart, the alternative club located in Bruxelles Chapelle railway station (which is still used, if irregularly, during the day). Every July and August Recyclart stages a series of gigs and club nights dubbed Fridays Holidays. Having missed 'Duran Duran Duran' the previous week (you'd have to go some to live up to a name that good), the August 11/12 line-up began with two local bands playing outside (the dreadful improv of I H8 Camera followed by the slightly better Creature with the Atom Brain (at their best operating somewhere in the hinterland between The Cramps and Sepultura, at their worst, a bunch of musos with a Shockabilly album and an effects rack).
Things started to hot up at midnight when we moved indoors to the station concours ) for the 'Kill all Hippies' club night. The Franco-Belge no-wave/disco primitif of Lawrence Wasser was pretty rewarding and the image is great - spangly tops, jump suits and face masks, topped off with bunny rabbit ears and tails. The masks are especially cool - covering just the cheeks and nose they have the effect of making the band look like identical mutant triplets.
The Ludes are a big noise with those looking for another Libertines or Arctic Monkeys. They're not as good as either, but they're still good. Despite some shocking sound problems, they still got the audience rocking to tracks such as 'Mr. Benson' and 'Dog don't bark'.
The Longcut were the final band but I didn't stick around. The records sound like Northside playing New Order. (I caught a bit of their soundcheck while avoiding I H8 Camera and, fittingly, they were playing the intro to Joy Division's 'Transmission').
Sunday and Monday evening were spent at the Markt Rock festival in Leuven, a three-day event centered on the famous university city's Oude Markt (old market), a beautiful 17th century square. The Sunday line-up included Postman (average funky hip-hop from Holland), Bjorn Again (a 90s joke that doesn't know when it isn't funny anymore) and Bloodhound Gang (surpisingly they have more than two songs. Even more surpisingly, they were pretty good, even coming up with a series of amusing captions (in Dutch) about Flemish culture). Top of the bill were Iggy and The Stooges, although, because everyone else had run late, I only caught the first four numbers before having to catch my train. What a quartet though - 'Loose', 'Down in the City', '1969' and 'I wanna be your dog'. Great stuff.
Heavy, heavy rain on Monday meant a delayed start from Brussels (would you get soaked for the Stereo MC's [sic]?) Arrived just in time to see Daan, a falsetto-friendly disco/rock/electronica hybrid fronted by Flanders's answer to Jarvis Cocker. I had never heard of, let alone heard him/them before, but was quite impressed.
Top of the bill though, was that most theatrical of pop groups, the Pet Shop Boys. With an excellent new album to showcase, and the magical setting of the Oude Markt (Neil Tennant called it 'The most beautiful place we have ever played'), the Boys and their backing singers and (brilliant) dancers put on an excellent show.
The stage set and lighting were brilliant - the main part of the set was a series of foldable interconnected wooden frames with scrims for projecting images onto. A simple yet ingenious construction that allowed all manner of creative possibilities, without slowing the pace. The set and lighting were complemented by some neat costume changes - Tennant began 'Psychological' dressed as a Victorian undertaker and ended up (for 'The Sodom and Gomorrah Show', 'Integral' and 'Go West') as a Five-Star General. Lowe, of course, wore the same flourescent green (Walter Van Beirendonck?) hoodie throughout and didn't utter a word.
'It's a sin', 'Opportunities', 'Rent', 'Shopping', 'Left to my own devices': Most of the Boys' biggest and best hits were given an airing. By the end, an initially lukewarm crowd was clapping in unison and hollering for more.
My week of culture was rounded off by a trip to the movie house to see Michael Mann's 'Miami Vice'. I never liked the TV series, so, unlike many people it seems, I was glad the film didn't try and replicate that tedious formula. It's a good, not great, action movie was some high-quality cinematography and a decent plot. Jamie Foxx is good and I really liked the character played by Gong Li (a nice update on the gangster's moll archetype). I think Colin Farrell is crap and his mullet and 'tache combo made him look like a mechanic from Pittsburgh who wore his Armani suit like it was a pair of beige chinos and a polo shirt. Not cool. Yet, despite him and some confusing editing, I still enjoyed the film.
Labels: on live music
posted by Justin Toland at 9:28 pm
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