Hello, dear readers. I am writing the last two entries as I recover from the musical debauchery of the last two days of Sound City 15, drinking chilled owls blood whilst sitting atop a human pyramid. But enough of my own personal decadence, let's get on with what Friday had to offer. The first band we saw was Becky Becky. If you've been reading my fevered writings for the past week or so, then you'll probably remember me writing something about them sounding a bit like Moloko, which was enough to pique my interest and spur me on to check them out. Whilst Gemma L. Williams had a promising voice, somewhere between Roisin Murphy and Bjork, the band was very raw and unfinished - and I mean very. This was topped off by an inadvisable attempt to mount or vault over the barrier that just seemed ill advised. That's not to say they won't get better, but I think it's early days yet for Becky Becky, and I hope they improve in the future. Like I said, I think they've got an interesting sound, but they're not there yet. After some American Pizza slice, craft beer and Tim Peaks coffee we head over to the Atlantic Stage to see Sean Lennon's band, The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger. I'll be honest, I didn't dig them. It sounded very Kula Shaker, and very much more like the ghost of the 70's more than anything else. My brother Nick assured me that the album plays a lot better than the band played live, so I'll give that a listen and let you know what I think. But at the time - decidedly not impressed. At the risk of sounding like a curmudgeon who hates everything and everyone, I also didn't dig the Thurston Moore Band. Admittedly, I've only heard a few Sonic youth songs, (which I quite liked) so maybe I'm not their audience and I'm the wrong guy to ask, but there just seemed like too much guitar and too little singing or lyrics. Yes, I know I'm a bloody philistine, but it just wasn't for me. The guitar work was strong and Moore sounded in good voice, but other than that the whole performance just didn't grip me. Ah me, can anything salvage this day? I found the drone's performance to be very consistent, it's circular motions a metaphor for being trapped in a recursive loop, symbolising the trap of our lives, but it must always watch! Oh fuck I've turned into Matt Belamy post Black Holes and Revelations. Shoot me now, it would be a mercy. Thankfully you can count on The Flaming Lips to be brilliantly bizarre and put out a great show, from singing classics like She Don't Use Jelly, Fight Test and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots whilst hugging a mascot dressed as a cartoon sun, to throwing a giant balloon that said "Fuck Yeah, Liverpool!" into a crowd that was loving every minute of it. There was also confetti, zorbing amongst the crowd and more mascots and strange creatures that you could shake a stick at. Oh, and halfway through two audience members proposed marriage on stage, and at one point some poor bugger had to be rushed out to a paramedic. Hopefully they were ok. The Lips ended on the transcendent Do You Realise? before bidding us goodbye. The Flaming Lips didn't just bring it with their psychedelic indie rock, they smashed it, glued it back together and then was kind enough to ask if we were ok before sending us back on our feet, minds blown and never the same. I don't know how to end this, so here's a picture of Wayne Coyne zorbing in a giant hamster ball amongst the crowd whilst still singing.
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Martin Summerfield
Monthly music columnist for the Kirkby Extra, sometimes article writer for Get Into This. Freelance writer/artist/maker. Archives
February 2017
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