Flav for Prime Minister: Public Enemy address the nation. Cambridge Junction 24/05/08

Cambridge. A curious place for one of the most pivotal bands of all time to perform what is widely regarded as the finest album of its kind in its entirety, especially given the selectivity of the tour (Manchester, Dublin, Nottingham, Glasgow and London were the more conventional choices). But if you were to believe the rantings of the larger-than-life Flavour Flav (adorned with his equally large clock), playing in Cambridge means a lot to Public Enemy, and on the basis of this monumental night, who could disagree?

Entering the stage to the sound of air-raid sirens, Public Enemy quickly got the packed Junction crowd moving with the invincible duo of Bring The Noise and Don’t Believe The Hype, the opening tracks of the seminal It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back. The unique dynamic of Chuck D’s hard-hitting rhymes and Flav’s comic additions were every bit as exhilarating live as they are on album, and age has done nothing to tarnish their intensity or rapping abilities (Chuck D’s referral to Flav as “the world’s oldest teenager” was right on the money). Stirling support was supplied by DJ Lord, who honourably assumed the name of his predecessor Terminator X on Terminator X To The Edge Of Panic, whilst showcasing his own formidable scratching skills in a remarkable solo display towards the end of the night. The instrumental tracks meanwhile, provided the menacing looking S1W the chance to strut their moves.

There was plenty of in-between-song banter, with Chuck D promising the Cambridge crowd that they were receiving their own unique rendition of It Takes A Nation…: certainly, this was not simply a by-numbers performance, and a good deal of improv was evident. The bruising metal underpinnings of She Watch Channel Zero?! was arguably the highlight of the set, and even as the album’s finale Party For Your Right To Fight came to a close, PE were far from finished, launching into a range of hits both new and old. Finally bringing the set to a close with a brilliant rendition of Fight The Power, Flavour Flav clearly felt that Public Enemy’s political agenda wasn’t clear enough, with an impassioned rant to the crowd ensuing, and some rather unflattering comments on certain political figures made. Few bands are capable of pulling off such preaching with dignity, but Public Enemy are certainly one of them. Rant over, and the time 11:30pm: a full 30 minutes after curfew time. Perhaps the powers that be were looking at the hands on the stationary clock around Flav’s neck. But then who would want to bring a night like this to a close?

The Big Bang: Explosions In The Sky curate All Tomorrow’s Parties 16/05/08-18/05/08

ATP festivals and life as a Cambridge student are two things that generally don’t go hand in hand: after all, deciding to hold your festivals in the middle of May doesn’t tend to fit too well into anyone’s exam schedule. Fortunately, having dealt once and for all with exams (apologies, I don’t wish to rub it in), I was in the fortunate position of being able to attend the Explosions In The Sky-curated ATP festival (apologies again). With just 6,000 attendees, chalet accommodation next to a seaside resort, and three indoor stages, this is far from your ordinary festival, as one look at the lineup would also confirm. Here’s a roundup of the best of the three days:

FRIDAY

Papiere Tigre: Whilst their music has its limitations, French art-punk three-piece Papiere Tigre delivered a ferocious and highly convincing set of dischord and punishing (in a good way) percussion.
Sunset Rubdown: In spite of multiple broken guitar string moments (why didn’t you bring spare guitars guys?), Spencer Krug’s wonky indie-prog parade triumphed with an energetic set capturing all the best moments from last year’s superb Random Spirit Lover.
Explosions In The Sky: The hosts were no disappointment, bringing their tense mix of pretty guitar shimmers and earth-shattering freak-outs to a rapturous audience. Whilst consistently falling just short of greatness on album, live they a different (and very loud) proposition.
The Octopus Project (left): The most fun set of the festival came from the instrumental/noise/pop/electronic collective The Octopus Project and their strange ghost/cat things. Plus a load of illuminated balloons. And a theremin.

SATURDAY

World’s End Girlfriend: An unexpected highlight of the festival, Japanese act World’s End Girlfriend is just one guy (Katsuhiko Maeda) and his thunderous touring drummer. Somehow encapsulating serene oriental beauty, crushing guitar noise, jazz and electronica into the space of one 45 minute set, World’s End Girlfriend proved a revelation
A Hawk And A Hacksaw (right): Ex-Neutral Milk Hotel drummer Jeremy Barnes fronts the Balkan-infused trio AHAAH with some lavish accordion skills, and equally accomplished violin and mandolin accompaniment. Limited in scope, perhaps, but highly enjoyable over 45 minutes nonetheless.
Okkervil River: Contrary to my prior worries over Will Sheff’s supposed vocal fragilities, OR delivered a superb set of their brand of literate folk indie-rock, with Sheff himself in particularly good form.
The National: As with Okkervil River, I had heard somewhat discouraging accounts of The National as a live act. Thankfully, these proved completely unfounded, with the National injecting a lot of extra oomph factor to expand the songs from last year’s stately Boxer. The highlight came with the set-closing Abel.

SUNDAY

Animal Collective: After a slow start to the day (admittedly I’d missed Jens Lekman earlier, which might have changed matters), AC laid down a bewildering hour of electronics, flashing lights, screams and tribal percussion which the acoustics of the centre stage could barely cope with. With just two songs taken from last year’s Strawberry Jam, the set suggested yet another new musical direction for this ever-evolving band.
Broken Social Scene (left): Headlining the Pavilion stage on the final night, BSS fittingly provided the highlight of the festival. As if their own numbers weren’t enough, the band were joined by Explosions In The Sky, The Constantines and J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. At the same time. Bolstered by lots of trumpets and the irrepressible charisma of Kevin Drew, this was a performance of true greatness.
Lichens: Robert Lowe a.k.a. Lichens used just a guitar, some strange vocal effects and a handful of electronic sounds to build up his 30-minute set from scratch. With just enough variation to keep it fresh, this was a strangely compelling performance.
Battles: In spite of playing two sets across the weekend, the queue into Battles was enormous, and subsequently we missed the first half of the set. What we did catch though, was a band of ever increasing powers in fine form, turning the hitherto difficult genre of math rock into something altogether cooler. Worth the hype
Envy: The final set we saw of the festival was also the loudest, with the Japanese post-rock-metallers throwing everything into their ferocious set in front an impressively packed out Reds stage. A most satisfying end to a most satisfying festival.

Sure, with festivals like this, you’ll always have the odd pretentious and horribly self-indulgent performance (Atlas Sound, much to my horror, definitely fell into this category), but the array of genre-pushing sounds and the general sense of community between both festival goers and the bands/artists are not to be missed. Unless you have exams. But hey, there’s always the Nightmare Before Christmas ATP in December: beach shorts are not a recommendation.

CUR1350 interviews Operahouse

Emerging talent Operahouse played the Cambridge Portland Arms on May 6 – CUR1350's Chiara headed over there armed with a recorder & mic to get some words from the boys; here's a transcript of the interview:

---

Chiara: All right, just to begin with, do you want to give a quick introduction to who you are and what sort of music you make?

Johnny: My name’s Johnny, I play guitar in Operahouse and sing.

Jim: Hi, my name’s Jim, I play bass... and do a bit of singing myself – but not as importantly as Johnny.

Johnny: Not as much as me.

Jim: I’m second frontman, really.

Johnny: I wouldn’t even…

Jim: ...say that.

[laughter]

Jim: I try, I try and get closer to the front than him.

Johnny: He’s not though, ‘cause I stand in the middle. You stand on the left, makes you less important than me.

Jim: Okay.

[more laughter]

C: So you guys are from London originally, or are you just hanging out there for the time being?

Johnny: We’re just hanging out there for the time being...

C: Is that because it influences you as a place or is there something that really speaks to you about London, or is it just kind of the thing that upcoming bands do nowadays?

Johnny: I don’t know, I went there before we started the band.

Jim: Yeah, I moved down about five years ago to go to art school and uh -

Johnny: ...about four?

Jim: Yeah, we grew up together in the midlands. And then you uh – you needed a bass player or something.

Johnny: Yeah and I asked Jimmy. And he said yes.

Jim: Yeah. As a temporary, but I stuck around.

Johnny: ...and now he’s frontman.

[laughter]

C: So, you guys are signed to Marrakesh Records and the label kind of prides itself on having once upon a time signed the Killers. Do you ever feel that people because of that get a preconception of you like ‘Oh, it’s just another indie band’ – is that in any way limiting, or did you purposely sign to Marrakesh Records or do you not really feel that at all?

Johnny: Don’t really feel any presence from the Killers at all.

Jim: I think some areas of press sometimes say that as their first thing, like instantly so that people can compare you to someone else just because you’re an indie band, so therefore we must -

Johnny: I don’t think we sound anything like the Killers.

Jim: No, I don’t think we do either. I think my mom does.

Johnny: Yeah, so does my mine, but I mean uh -

Jim: She also says we sound like the Magic Numbers, so…

Johnny: It’s very difficult.

[laughter]

C: So who are some of your influences then?

Johnny: Velvet Underground, David Bowie -

Jim: I used to listen to a lot of Led Zeppelin.

Johnny: Led Zeppelin. The new Management album. [MGMT?]

Jim: Yeah, that’s good.

Johnny: I don’t know. Radiohead.

Jim: Yeah.

Johnny: Everybody but the Killers, pretty much.

Jim: That’s the one album I’ve got that I’ve never listened to.

Johnny: I don’t think I’ve heard it, either.

Jim: Got about three copies, cause of the label...

[laughter]

C: Is there anything in particular that you want to do with your music?

Jim: We just want to get into a position where we can get the album out. We know that’s going to happen, but it’s always just worry that it... wouldn’t... that it’s not gonna -

Johnny: I think we just want to get the record out and build up our live presence and get more people, play bigger venues.

C: So what are your immediate plans for the future then?

Johnny: This tour finishes tomorrow, then we’re doing a load of festivals in May –

Jim: ...and July, and stuff.

Johnny: We’re recording the album in June and then yeah, doing stuff in July, then might go to Ibiza to do some stuff.

Jim: Yeah that’d be good.

C: Is that going to be productive in any way?

Johnny: Probably not.

Jim: I think if we do go, it’s like we’ll be there for a week and we’ll do six gigs, in the same place every night. Should be good. So yeah, we gotta remain professional.

[laughter]

C: So you guys are an up and coming talent – do you know any other bands that maybe we should be watching out for?

Johnny: I don’t know. It’s really hard because you don’t really see any of the other bands who are sort of in your own position because they’re doing their own shows.

Jimmy: There’s a band called the Brute Chorus from London, they’re doing quite well anyway I think – getting a bit of momentum anyway. They’re really good.

Johnny: We’re just really concentrating on what we’re doing at the moment... [laughter] ... we’ve played in front of like four people on this tour in different towns, so you just gotta keep going at it. These are all the towns we’d never done before, so we knew it was going to be really hard. Some of them have been great, but some of them have been... disastrous. So we’re just focusing on what we’re doing at the moment.

C: So this is your second UK tour?

Johnny: Yeah.

Jim: Yeah.

Johnny: Second as headliners. It’s a bit early for us to be headlining, I think.

Jim: Yeah – we did a few good support tours back at the beginning of the year and we sort of think that’s the way and we want to go back to that. It’s a bit more fun. You’re not responsible for the amount of people in the room.

Johnny: Yeah – there’s a lot of pressure on us to sell tickets and stuff. And obviously various towns had never heard of us, and they wouldn’t have done ‘cause we’re not on the right radio stations or haven’t had the right press there or whatever. It’s tough.

C: Do you have anything you want to add to that?

Johnny: Diane [single] came out yesterday, May 5th – it’s available on itunes.

--

Check them out - www.myspace.com/operahousehq

--

Black Lips @ the Junction 2 (the Shed), Cambridge, 11.05.08

Openers White Williams sound and look as if they've been asked to perform at one of their parents' wedding anniversaries. Their music is lustreless, their performance listless. Attempts at spicing up the dull glam-pop with randomly thrown in digital sound effects are ill-advised and the entire performance falls flat on its face as everyone in the room and on stage, including Williams himself, simply looks bored. In short: a spectacularly strange and failed choice of opening band.

It's a good thing, then, that garage punks Black Lips are more than ready to bring some buzz into the Shed – expectations are running high as these boys have gained quite a reputation for themselves with their often rather raucous live shows and stage antics.

As the opening notes to I Saw A Ghost (Lean) sound out the air is suddenly crackling with energy and it doesn't take long for the first drink to get thrown (in a positive sense). From scenester stillness to head-bopping and foot-tapping, from swing dancing to the obligatory group of crazy teenage boys jumping around and taking down anything in their way: every possible audience reaction is represented – the common denominator being enjoyment of the show.

Slight technical problems involving the bass drum somewhat interrupt the performance early on, but the Lips have brought along a repertoire of samples, jams, and witty banter to seamlessly patch over the bumps (good thing, too – read on!).

Anyone who has ever been to the Shed knows that it's not usually a space made for rock gigs. Yes, the central area of seating has been removed and turned into a standing area, yes, a stage has been erected, but no, no barriers have been put up. During the initial stages of the show, a lonely Junction employee stands on his own against the knot of bodies moshing around and slamming against the front monitors (there are even some attempts at crowd-surfing in a 'crowd' hardly dense enough to be called such).

The situation escalates as the Black Lips launch into their new single Bad Kids and a full-blown stage invasion runs its course. The Junction security man doesn't even attempt to get the dozen or more young boys off the stage, realizing that his endeavours would most likely be fruitless. There is much jumping about, dancing, and getting tangled in leads but the Lips play on bravely – even as half the drum kit (including the bass drum) ends up being thrown into the audience (I know. Wow.) and only cease when the PA system is cut in an attempt to restore some order amidst the madness. The above-mentioned filler is put to good use as kids are unceremoniously returned to the audience, equipment is returned to the stage, a short search for the bass drum pedal is undertaken, and the drum kit is reassembled. Everyone always says the Black Lips go crazy on stage, but there's just the slightest possibility that the Lips have been beaten at their own game tonight. As singer/guitarist Cole Alexander would later say - “Man, we were singing a song called Bad Kids, we couldn't really turn around and tell them to stop.” Some of these crazy kids even showed up in a big white limo.

The show must go on, and after what seems to be every Junction staff member on duty that night is called in to act as a human barrier the Lips resume their performance. Despite some of the audience members' most valiant attempts, the Junction staff manage to prevent any further major stage invasions (though once or twice a particularly resourceful individual manages a victorious few skips on the stage). Even a rather small and frail looking girl complete with flower in her hair is among the Junction employees now standing in front of the stage, but the kids are respectful enough not to slam into her – instead Cole takes the opportunity to crouch down behind her mid-performance and give her a kiss on the cheek.

Other stand-outs of the show include a smashing performance of Cold Hands, as well as the fantastic Hippie Hippie Hurrah whose whooshing noises are always good fun, particularly as the boys like accompanying them with ominous arm motions and finger-waving almost as if attempting to cast a spell over the crowd (which they do).

Drummer Joe Bradley’s faces are a sight to behold, guitarist Ian St.Pé's trademark gold teeth glint in the stage lights, bassist Jared Swilley's moustache is reaching impressive proportions, and Cole enjoys pulling his spit-in-the-air-and-try-to-catch-it stunt – basically, the Lips are on top form. Sharing vocal duties they seem to be having a blast on stage, and the fun is infectious.

What is remarkable about their performance is that despite their (admittedly recently toned-down) antics, they manage to pull together and slam home a set that is musically impressive and instrumentally quasi-flawless (disregarding technical issues). In short, the Black Lips are definitely a band to be seen should the opportunity ever present itself – you'll be sure to get a memorable night all around.

---

The (improvised) set list was comprised mostly of material of the two most recent studio albums (Let It Bloom 2005, Good Bad Not Evil 2007) with a few other tracks thrown in.

(Not complete, and definitely not in order):

Hippie Hippie Hurrah
Cold Hands
I Saw A Ghost (Lean)
O Katrina
Buried Alive
Juvenile
Boomerang
Bad Kids

---

(left to right: Cole, Jared, Joe, Ian)

---

(the reviewer apologizes for any mistakes that may have inadvertently been made courtesy of useless memory, esp. re. setlist)