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FELIX Friday 19 November 2010 27
Cinematic Orchestra
When two things of immense beauty combine, strange things can
happen. In this case, music and majesty create brilliance
As an Imperial student,
the Royal Albert Hall
can easily become a
mundane and constant
feature of our university
lives. It’s by no means an ugly building
but, after almost three and half years
at Imperial, I scarcely give it a cursory
glance. Last Sunday, after experiencing
The Cinematic Orchestra perform
within its circled walls, I found a renewed
appreciation for our illustrious
neighbour.
The Cinematic Orchestra last performed
at the Royal Albert Hall in 2007
and the night had the air of a triumphant
return (an extremely cold triumphant return
but triumphant nonetheless). They
were as impressive as I expected, but
before they took to the stage, we had a
couple of delicious appetizers.
The London Metropolitan Orchestra
opened and, from my seat in Choir
behind the stage, for the fi rst time I understood
the complexity and skill of the
orchestra and the conductor. Strangely
enough, I think because I was there of
my accord (instead of being coerced
by my keen-to-be-cultured parents) I
was more open-minded about the classical
music and more able to enjoy it.
Although trying to explain to the steward,
as I waited to return to my seat after
using the bathroom, that there were two
separate ‘orchestras’ performing that
night but only one was an actual orches-
Smoke Faries
Ghosts
453 Music
★★★★✩
As the days get shorter and the mornings
far too bloody cold, this duo from
Sussex provide the perfect soundtrack
to our ailing weather. Producing lustful
and haunting blues-folk, their sound is
at its best when it adds a touch of Americana
to the classic English setting.
The lazy slide guitar stomp of ‘Strange
Moon Rising’ conjures images of New
Orleans swamps, and the distorted blues
guitar at the end of ‘Summer Fades’
helps elevate the track about the rest of
the album. The songs merge together so
well that it’s over just as soon as it’s begun,
fl eeting but in a good way.
-Christopher Dean
Photo by Shaun Bloodworth
The pink lighting was the key ingredient to the success of the fl amingo impression
tra was slightly infuriating…
Next on the menu was Dorian Concept.
I’m rather embarrassed to admit
that, for me, his music was slightly
overshadowed by the London Metropolitan
Orchestra’s performance.
Compared with the rich, multi-layered
classical melodies, his somewhat fl at
post-rock didn’t play my ears with
quite the same dexterity. Although
things turned for the better when he
moved to scat jazz his drummer unfortunately
stole his thunder with his frenzied
bebopping.
Then fi nally, the main course. It’s hard
Love Amongst Ruin
Home
Universal
★★✩✩✩
The side-project of Placebo drummer
Steve Hewitt, this single is heavily led
by the distorted, bassy misery-rock of
his day-job band, although it’s much
more direct and a signifi cantly less fey
affair than you’d expect from Molko
et al. The effects are straight out of
the 80’s synth-rock box, which may
or may not be your cup of tea, but the
track suffers as it can’t decide what it
wants to be. It veers between aiming
for a claustrophobic, uncomfortable
Deftones-esque sound and an indie club
jump-along rock track and as a result,
does neither quite convincingly.
Duncan Casey
to convey (impossible actually) the effect
of The Cinematic Orchestra’s
wistful music in the splendour of the
Royal Albert Hall. The acoustics were
pitch-perfect. The London Metropolitan
Orchestra, who were backing them,
would swoosh in to sprinkle that something
extra as a song crescendoed. The
vocals fi zzed with emotion and when
‘To Build A Home’ was performed at the
end of the set, there was nothing to do
but close my eyes and self-indulge in
tearful nostalgia.
As I left the Royal Albert Hall, I
looked back and realized even more
Skandal
Go
Halal Beats/Kilamanjaro
★★✩✩✩
This week’s prize for the worst abuses
of auto-tune go to Skandal, who apparently
hasn’t learned the lessons of Li’l
Wayne’s recent crap rock album – and
subsequent jail term. Still, the South
London rapper has an ear for a beat, and
with the addition of a singer that didn’t
sound like a voice-mail message recorded
in a bucket, there’d be a decent tune
here. He can rap, even if his rhymes
are a little suspect every now and again:
I’ve never heard an enemy described as
being “like a bendy bus” before, but I
suppose you’ve got to work with what
you’ve got.
Duncan Casey
strongly, that although creative expression
is subjective, there are some things
that are brilliant and no rational person
could disagree . The Royal Albert Hall
as a venue is brilliant. The Cinematic
Orchestra is brilliant. And The Cinematic
Orchestra at the Royal Albert
Hall is simply sublime.
The Cinematic Orchestra
Royal Albert Hall
14.11.10
★★★★★
Kadhim Shubber
Lower Dens
Twin Hand Movement
Gnomonsong
★★★★✩
Another hazy dream pop band from Baltimore
that are well worth your attention
are Lower Dens, playing with fellow
Baltimoreans Beach House this week.
Their debut record released on singersongwriter
and visual artist; Devendra
Banhart’s label. ‘Gnomonsong’ is raw
and lo fi , but after a couple of listens
through the shoegaze emerges some addictive
melodies. Sometime the album
is victim of its own downtempo pace
and feels at times uncohesive, however
it is clear that this band do have potential,
their sound just needs to become a
little more focused.
Christopher Walmsey
MUSIC
A playlist from
brilliant British
songwriters...
Some of the greatest songs to
have graced my ears, that infl uence
many of the song-writers today,
including myself, came from
our little kingdom
The Cure -
Lullaby
Joy Division -
Transmission
The Smiths -
There Is a Light That
Never Goes Out
The Clash-
Guns of Brixton
Morrissey -
First of the Gang
The Jam -
The Eton Rifl es
If you want to share a
mind-blowing playlist send
it in to music.felix@gmail.
com
Badly Drawn Boy
It’s What I’m Thinking
(Part 1 Photographing
Snowfl akes
Peartree Records
★✩✩✩✩
Before hearing his seventh studio album,
I associated Badly Drawn Boy
with mediocrity; having listened to it,
nothing has changed. The tracks range
from dull, generic folk-pop, to cheap
copies of other, better artists, ‘I Saw
You Walk Away’, could be a Morrissey
fi ller track. Aside from the obligatory
acoustic guitar, the instrumentation is
truly bizarre, including repeated use of
a drum machine that adds nothing. Lyrically
this is crammed full of clichés and
vague, meaningless phrases. This album
is only the fi rst in a series of three, I
hope for his sake that the next two are a
lot better. Stephen Smith