LIVE music photography

OK that’s probably the worst pun that I can think of however after watching Portishead and Elbow in the same week at the Brixton Academy I think I need some  light hearted nonsense!

The last time I saw The Hives was at the Reading Festival in 2004 although they are pretty good in a festival environment their unique bonkers style works perfectly in a more intimate environment. The Hives are one of those interesting bands who despite having never been regarded as cool still have the ability to sell out tours and CD’s by the truckload. Their new album “The White and Black album” was produced by Neptunes and N*E*R*D front-man Pharrell Williams this is their 5th album in 10 years and despite being a departure from previous albums is still as immediate as their 2004 release “Tyrannosaurus Hives”.

OK it’s not as cutting edge as some of the new acts out there (Blood Red Shoes, MGMT, Foals) however it’s a perfect holiday, gym cd and I don’t mean this in a critical way.

Written by John Rahim

 This has been a bit of an odd week for gigs. First The Breeders now for the cheery Bristolians Portishead who are almost prolific as The Stone Roses. They are just about to release their third album a mere 14 years after their Mercury Music winning debut   album “Dummy”. Admittedly “Dummy” was a groundbreaking album which kick started the commercialisation of the trip hop movement however I wonder what they have been doing for so long?

Well whatever they have been doing is can’t have been  much fun as Beth Gibbons and her jovial pals looked rather pissed off.  Even though Beth is from Devon I’ve always regarded her as a fellow Scot. She looks Scottish, doesn’t say much and looks like she’s just walked out of an Irvine Welsh novel, hell she could even be related to Bobbie Gillespie?

The gig was pretty good and whist they were not the most dynamic band that I had seen live had a great Warholesque projected back drop which was the perfect visual accompaniment to their music.

Written by John Rahim

Tom McRae is a highly talentedsinger songwriter  in the same vein as Damien Rice, Jack Johnson. Tom has been writing and producing music since 2000 and his debut album which came out in the same year was nominated for a Q Award, Brit and The Mercury Music Prize. In addition to his solo work Tom has also written music for many of America’s biggest TV shows including CSI, Buffy, 6 Feet Under and others.

 Tom who is originally from East Anglia has recently moved from LA to London and is in the process of embarking on a nationwide tour starting on the 20th of April in Nottingham. The tour which is sponsored by Gibson Guitars is promoting his new album, “The King of Cards”, which came out late last year on V2/Universal Music. The album is excellent and I highly recommending checking him out live. He will be playing in London on the 30th of April at King’s College. For the full listing of his tour visit http://www.myspace.com/tommcrae

Written by John Rahim

I first came across The Breeders in Scotland in the very early 90’s. I had just started at Sony and was up in Edinburgh to meet Teenage Fanclub. The meeting never happened (even though I admitted that it did) and the band ended up signing to Creation. I think the band had just recorded their debut album “Pod” in Edinburgh with Steve Albini who at the time had just worked with “The Pixies” on their “Surfer Rosa” album. The gig that I saw was at The Assembly rooms and I remembered wondering at the time why all the majors were trying to sign bands who inevitably would want to sign to Beggars, Mute, Creation, Rough Trade…..I remember at the time thinking that the indies should stick to what they were good at and the majors should ensure that there was sufficient in the coffers to pay for our lunches at The Ivy and Quaglinos.

A few years later whilst watching The Breeders at the Reading Festival I realised that I have made a bit of mistake, their last album “The Last Splash” had sold around three million copies and “Cannonball” had become the most played video on MTV. Oh well I doubt that they would have wanted to have signed to Sony, even though they were looking for a distribution deal in the US and Europe.

So watching The Breeders tonight was a bit strange, I expected them to be brilliant however the gig plodded along with a couple of obvious highlights however overall the best way to describe the show would be half arsed. The new album is dull and it would seem that The Breeders are resting on their laurels, that said playing a couple of nights at Koko is no big deal when in the past they have sold out Alexander Palace. The new album has a couple of decent tracks however I would not recommending rushing out to buy it.

Written by John Rahim