Wednesday 23 May 2007

hot club, goodbooks, etc

before i say anything about the Hot Club De Paris gig last night, i must must must talk about the Simon Bookish cover of Franz Ferdinand's song 'Michael'. oh. my. god. it's absolutely aaaaaaaaaaaamazing. i have no idea how long it's been around but i am really wondering why i haven't heard it before.
Simon is a weird kind of fella. a bit odd looking, and the music he creates is even stranger. you are all probably well aware of his remix of Grizzly Bear's track 'Eavesdropping', and his work with Bishi.
this cover/remix/thing has stripped the song of all things Franz aside from the pounding vibe underneath that makes you want to dance like you've never danced before. 'Michael' is already an amazing song, but when re-worked by Mr. Bookish it takes on a completely new edge, something rougher, sexier and dirtier. electro beats trample on Simon's raw vocals and what's left of the guitar twangs and screeches, in a completely good way.

Simon Bookish - Michael (Franz Ferdinand Cover)
Franz Ferdinand - Michael
Grizzly Bear - Eavesdropping (Simon Bookish Remix)

and now to the gig last night!
because i am a bad music fan (hahaaaa) i didn't watch the first support act, Safetyword. i'd listened to their tracks on myspace before i went, and if i am honest, i didn't really enjoy their sound. sounded like a whole lot of noise about a whole lot of nothing.

next up was GoodBooks, who i've written about before in this blog. as usual, they always deliver. i never find myself disappointed with GoodBooks. shit name, but brilliant band. i think i might have been cunning enough to have managed to get myself a free ticket to see them supporting The Sounds (along with Neils Children), so i am quite excited for that. plus, seeing them in a bigger venue will be quite exciting, even if it is full of The Sounds' fans.
former single 'The Illness' was the stand out track of their seven song set, fresh sounding with cowbells galore and punky guitars. 'Passchendaele' is going to be the next single from the band, and as soon as they finished their support slot they got in their van and drove back to London in order to film the video for it. Leo said something about them having to 'act', so i am looking forward to seeing how that works out.

Hot Club De Paris took to the stage, all full of beer and grapes. literally. they apologised for being rather drunk, but i think that made things a bit more fun. their banter was of course brilliant, and god knows how they managed to play such complicated songs after having been for "a bevvy".
there were a couple of b-sides like 'I Swung For Judas' in the set, and a couple of new ones, one of which was instrumental and sounded absolutely amazing despite the band saying they didn't know how to play it properly yet.
Hot Club are, in my eyes, an extremely underrated band. they have an amazing skill to create these perfect almost 3 minute long songs that aren't really songs at all. they're a mass jumble of nautical sounding guitars, 'woooooo's and lyrics about arson, Ouija boards and jobs, and i love everything about them.

Hot Club De Paris - Shipwreck
Hot Club De Paris - Who Am I

there's going to be a massive post on Saturday about the NME gig (Blood Red Shoes, The Little Ones, The Rumble Strips and Pull Tiger Tail) and the warehouse party i am attending on Friday night (Sir Yes Sir, Air Cav, The Ending Of and iDresden), and then another massive post about Eurocultured Festival (Yelle, Datarock, Modernaire, Disco Drive, and more) probably on Tuesday. woo!