Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger

Reviewed on July 17th.

A return to form for Ryan Adams? Well, when compared to recent outings like ‘Rock ‘n Roll’ and the thousand discs he’s released in the last 2 years… yes, it’s a return of sorts.

Easy Tiger sounds more like a direct descendant of ‘Love Is Hell’ and ‘Heartbreaker’. However, just because it’s a little twangier and has a tempo suitable for Starbucks doesn’t mean that this disc is as good as early Ryan Adams or Whiskeytown.

The lead single ‘Two’ is pretty and plaintive, and ‘Halloween Head’ is an up-tempo rocker, although the lyrics aren’t all that stunning. The closer ‘I Taught Myself How To Grow Old’ is probably my favourite track on the disc and finishes what is a solid disc. So, while not a complete return to brilliance, at least this shows that Ryan may be back on track

Sondre Lerche - Mod Club - 2007-04-02

Reviewed on April 3rd.

Finally… after being a fan for about 4 years, I finally managed to make it to see Norwegian pop king Sondre Lerche. Playing with The Faces Down, Sondre’s set combined tracks from the new ‘Phantom Punch’ with songs from ‘Two Way Monologue’ and last year’s ‘Duper Sessions’. I was really excited to hear some of the ‘Duper Sessions’ tracks and the set didn’t disappoint. Although there was a major change in styles between the last two discs, the set updated some of the jazzier offerings into a fresh, loud, poppy offering. ‘Everyone’s Rooting For You’, ‘Minor Detail’ and others blended well with newer songs like ‘She’s Fantastic’, ‘Face The Blood’ and the opener ‘Airport Taxi Reception.’

Other great moments included a fun audience call and response on ‘Modern Nature’, ‘Track You Down’ and ‘Two Way Monologue’.

Bloc Party - Kool Haus - 2007-03-25

Reviewed on April 3rd.

Ahhh Sunday night at the Kool Haus… with the place being packed to the doors, it felt like a sweaty dank gymnasium by the time I arrived. Due to some other commitments, I didn’t get to catch Sebastian Grainger or Albert Hammond, but I did get there just in time to catch the start of the Bloc Party set.

Probably the thing that struck me the most is the fact that the new songs from ‘A Weekend In The City’ flowed so well into Bloc Party’s traditionally energetic live set. The opener ‘Song For Clay (Disappear Here)’ and ‘Hunting For Witches’ were two of the most engaging parts of the night. This is the 5th time I’ve seen Bloc Party and I shelved ‘Silent Alarm’ almost a year ago, but the minute I heard the opening riff of ‘Banquet’ and ‘She’s Hearing Voices’, I was hooked.

With the exception of the slow ‘SXRT’ to start the encore, most of the show bounced along with a great light show, solid Matt Tong beats and a crowd that was into every song.

Menomena - El Mocambo - 2007-03-23

Reviewed on March 26th.

First of all, let me go ahead and apologize for the photos of this show. I didn’t have my camera handy, so these shots are enriched with cameraphone goodness… ugh! This was supposed to be a great double bill with Field Music and Menomena. Land Of Talk were also on the bill… according to the El Mocambo website, Field Music was on at 11, Menomena at 12… so I showed up at about 10:50. I have no idea if Field Music played at all that night, but Land Of Talk and Menomena were the only two bands I saw.

The only thing that stuck out as memorable from the Land of Talk set was that their bassist looks exactly like the Geico caveman!!

Once Menomena came on, the crowd headed for the front and the drums kicked in… I’ve been digging ‘Friend and Foe’ for a little while, but these songs sounded much, much better live. In particular, ‘Muscle ‘n Flo’ and ‘Wet and Rusting’ really brought the crowd onside and made for a great show.

Paolo Nutini - Mod Club - 2007-03-07

Reviewed on March 8th.

It was a packed house last night at the Mod Club to catch young Scottish popster Paolo Nutini. He came on and breezed through a 45-minute set that had the crowd involved and singing along. If I’m not mistaken, Paolo covered just about every song from his debut ‘These Street’ while peppering in a couple of new tracks (’Dolphins’ sounded like a promising new track).

The evening started with the upbeat ‘Loving You’ and ‘New Shoes’ which got the crowd on-side quickly. Following that, the youngster walked through his nu-soul tracks like ‘Million Faces’, ‘Last Request’ and ‘Rewind’. For his first trip through town, it was impressive that the crowd was singing along loudly, even taking a couple bars of the chorus for ‘Rewind’. It could have been the spot where I was standing, but between a lot of shoegazing and a thick Scottish brogue, I could barely make out a word of the between song banter. It didn’t matter though, the songs came in quick succession and kept the pace engaging. The show closed out with a rockin’ treatment of the album opener ‘Jenny Don’t Be Hasty’. Although the band exited quickly without an encore, the show was short, sweet and enjoyable.