Wooden Shjips @ Islington Mill 20/08/09

So yeah part two of the "reviews written well after the gig and therefore pretty ropey" section. Instead of being knackered and not really focused on the gig like last time, this time I'm facing the prospect of getting up at five AM and going to the airport and flying to Berlin (via Dusseldorf), so that's hanging over my head and slightly occupying my mind.

I've never been to Islington Mill before, some people moan that it's too far to go for a gig but it's 'only a ten minute walk from the town centre'. I suggest that people claiming such should actually heel and toe it themselves before saying such. Not that I did, I drove it and got lost, hence the bitterness ... yes??

So Islington Mill is a dump, but a lovable one at that. What at first is an intimidating atmosphere of sweat and sweaty bodies, with sweat soacked air and sweaty heathens to push through the venue is really cool. The bar is essentially a pile of shit with a bit of wood on the top. The booze was cheap (I wasn't driving back!) but unfortunately it wasn't as cool as the venue.

Gnod are tonights opening band. It's obvious why they've been chosen for the gig and I'm always disappointed when looking for a local support act some promoters just go for bands that sound identical to headline act. It seems a bit like going out for a steak and having a bigmac for a starter..sort of the same, but shitter!! Gnod were better than your usual BigMac though in fact they were really good, their sound is a mix of all things, a little bit Mark E Smith a little bit trance a little bit (well a lot prog rock). The band themselves were equally a mixed bag indies kids, dredheads and a few metallers..all good. Worth checking out again.



Wooden Shjips..like Gang gang dance a year before them are close to my album of the year choice (obviously that means a lot to them). The San Diegans (San Diego-ins, San Diegoites...???) second album 'Dos' capturing the rawness of early sonic Youth and adding flavours of trance and freakout not matched by many psych contempories. And before anyone starts, Yes I know all their songs sound the same, it's how they roll, deal with it, maaaan.



So yeah, they were ace...except for two things; neither had anything to do with the band. First up was the guy behind me obviously there at some friends behest who had to, and I mean had to describe everysong to his buddys. It wasn't just the volume and the appaling similies he was gushing but the obviousness that he was just looking around theroom and saying stuff out loud "Oh wow that one was like Ozric Tentacles on acid in a sweaty ship yard", "Yowsers that one was like a cosmic bus driver on a couch of doom in a room full of people..." I was waiting for "That one was like a closet peodophile who doesn't know the volume of his own voice giving opinions nobody asks for in order to impress a girl that's probably already married" but...



... we moved into the crowd a bit to get away from Jonathan King and friends and ended up stood behind two guys dancing. Nowt wrong woth that (you'd think), entitled to have a boogie aren't you?? Well yeah but these two were propa off their tits. Soft drinks at Islington Mill are served in tiny plastic cups and these two would take it turns to go get two lemonades struggle back to where the other was, after slopping half the drink on his way over, then they'd both do the "pop" like a shot and thirty seconds later the other was off to the bar. It amused me a lot I can tell you, just that their inability to keep within their own space got a bit annoying. You know the bit in Dirty Dancing when he goes "this is my space, this is yours" yeah well that's what was going on, he was looking at his phone and kept walking backwards...onto my feet. Nice lad did apoligise a few thousand times before he had to go off to the bar for a quick shot of "pop". Then I bought a T-shirt and we went home, had an early start the next day.

Gang Gang Dance @ Deaf Institute 18/08/09

I spent the past few days treking around the Edinburgh Festival drinking and eating myself stupid and fitting in the odd comedy show. It's fair to say that after dumping ones bags in the hall and essentially turning around and backing out the nice warm restful house going to see a band isn't the ideal thing to be doing. The train journey was one of them when (and I do this more often than not) I somehow get the feeling that the journey is nearing it's end and then get annoyed when it doesn't. Like in The Dark Knight when you think it's drawing out to an ending and then starts up again by the fourth time it does this you're really quite annoyed. That was me on the train back from Edinburgh.

Gang Gang Dance should have been the first band to feature in this blog, seen as they were scheduled to play at the Roadhouse in February. Unfortunately for punters and band the show was cancelled as their tour van burnt up (does a van burn up or down) with all their gear in it. this, along with the fact that last years album St Dymphna was in my topper most of the top albums of 2008 I wasn't gonna miss their next Manchester gig, no matter how physically fucked I was feeling (8 and a half outta ten). I'm also writing this after the event so you're getting short changed before we've even began because I've been to Berlin since and can't rememeber a lot of it!! Ha!! Read on losers...



Support act was the Sian Alice Group and they were indeed top draw. The four (or maybe five) piece displayed some hypnotic driving rhythms and stuff like that. The singer looked hot (in a sexual sense) and cool (in a fonzy sense) and sort of reminded me of Patti Smith without the lectures. The band had quite a relaxed vibe about them and reminded me of the Walkmen a little bit, although that was just about the overall visual impression (suits and moustaches).



Gang Gang Dance can't be everybodies cup of tea, for starters if they were I wouldn't wanna live in that world. Better writers than me have written about them trying to explain their range of influence both inwards and outwards but it's always a shortcoming (the journalism, not the music). They line up on stage with a large pile of gizmos and gadgets, a guitarist and a drummer a singer with some congas which she plays with what I can't help remember as large cotton buds (i'm sure some bore will inform me of their correct name).

I'd heard a live podcast a few weeks earlier so I wasn't suprised at their set which contained a large protion of instrumental improvisation with many multi layered percussion parts which I'd really enjoy listening to, but there's really only so long you can watch someone play the congas before you get a bit restless and what with the aforementioned train journey it's amazing I lasted.

They were ace, the album was much better. I liked the way they jammed songs out but was frustrated that they didn't play all their strongest songs. The guy playing the keyboards and samples needs a hug because he seemed to be doing just about everything while everyone else jammed it (or winged it). But yeah they were great, my girlfriend liked them (not as much as Sian Alice Group) but then she likes anything with a femal singer she's one of these "Ya-hoo you go girl" types.