{MUSIC} Previews and reviews
ROD JONES & THE BIRTHDAY SUIT Idlewild guitarist learned drums for solo album
When Idlewild took indefinite leave in 2010, it appeared guitarist Rod Jones would follow singer Roddy Woomble down the folk route. After all, 2009’s A Sentimental Education suggested a man at one with his acoustic guitar. When he sat down to write and record his next solo effort, however, something didn’t feel quite right.
‘I was about half way through the record and there was nothing I really liked,’ he says. ‘I was a bit fed up with the whole folk music thing – I mean every man and his dog was doing the faux folk thing.’
In a determined musical u-turn, Jones decided to learn the drums and plug in. A few new songs, and a rewrite here and there later, and the result was an album in need of a band. The Birthday Suit moniker he had been playing around with became an ever-evolving collective of local musicians, friends and family. ‘It’s essentially a solo project but it sounds like a
band record – so I needed a band. It’s an ever changing bistro of musicians.’
The Eleventh Hour is scheduled for release in
October but first up is a headline UK tour, kicking off with a date at the Edge Festival. The inevitable comparisons with Idlewild are fine with Jones.
‘People say it sounds like 100 Broken Records and I guess, yes, it sounds more like an early Idlewild record than I first anticipated. At any rate it’s a better fit for me. If and when we record another Idlewild record, I’ll still want to do another Birthday Suit record as well.’ (Rachel Devine) ■ Cabaret Voltaire, 220 6176, 31 Aug, 7pm, £7.50, part of the Edge Festival.
E K E D O N E K L A V I T S E F
ORKESTRA SIMBOLIKA Vibrant, rough-around-edges flamenco ●●●●● BEST COAST Retro surf-pop
HIT COMET Office keyboard comedy ●●●●●
It’s clear from the moment you walk in that Orkestra Simbolika are not the straight-up flamenco group the venue name suggests. From the individual sartorial choices of each bandmate, you can see they’re a mixed bunch: the guitarist sports a loud shirt and kilt combo; the dreadlocked percussionist, a T-shirt and baggy pants ensemble beloved of hippies everywhere; the saxophonist, a dapper disco- gangster outfit, complete with sequinned trilby. The rule about not judging book covers is generally a good one, but here appearances are undeceiving.
Playing tunes undercut by the rigid structure of flamenco – all stamping feet, handclaps and Spanish guitar – the band journeys into reggae and funk. For the most part, the band’s infectious energy carries them through, provoking some audience members to ditch their chairs for a dance. Their musicianship is very accomplished too, but kept purposefully loose to allow for extended improv jams. In the end, it’s quite an exhausting experience, audibly as well as physically; you can’t help feeling that the gig might have been more enjoyable with less frantic genre jumping. (Niki Boyle) ■ Alba Flamenca, 226 0000, 25 & 26 Aug, 10pm, £10 (£8).
46 THE LIST 25 Aug–22 Sep 2011
That name rings a bell . . . Refresh my memory? Gladly. It’s a duo of Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno, plus Ali Koehler on drums. What does their music sound like? A sad look back at a really incredible, life-changing, but ultimately totally doomed teenage holiday romance? Christ. I had one of those. This could be for me. What’s my entry level Best Coast crash- course listening? Probably ‘Boyfriend’, for heat- warped alt-rock and soaring vocals. (The video is set at a ‘Quinceañera’ – a Mexican ‘Sweet Fifteen’ party). Debut LP Crazy for You (Wichita) is also a good taster of their 60s, Spector-esque girl group sound. Have they been on the go for a while then? Best Coast began in 2009, but the members have been making music for a while under different guises. Bethany used to be half of the ‘Olsen twins of blissed- out drone’, when she played alongside Amanda Brown in Pocohaunted. The drummer Ali also used to be one of Vivian Girls, but left to join Best Coast. What else should I know? Drew Barrymore is a fan, and directed their new video for ‘Our Deal’, featuring two warring LA gangs. ■ The Bongo Club, 558 7604, Tue 30 Aug, 7pm, £13.50, part of the Edge Festival.
One of the great pleasures of the Fringe is witnessing all the flyering tactics of cast members – the chap from Hit Comet got us with ‘Do you like Mad Men?’ (Yes, we do). ‘It’s like that but for the music industry.’ Half an hour later we’re sitting in the Bedlam Theatre with an office stage-set in front of us, the New York skyline blind turning out to be the show’s only similarity to Don Draper. Regardless, Hit Comet entertained, depicting four hapless record label workers who, in their search to pen the next number one, tap out hilariously formulaic keyboard and guitar tunes. From the musical duo of ‘creatives’ searching for a topical issue to sing about (obesity) to a cameo from an up-and-coming artist sporting a hat made of loads of sunglasses the show ended in a full cast jamming session, leaving their undeniably wrong but catchy hit record careering around our heads all afternoon. (Jo Bell) ■ Bedlam Theatre, 225 9873, until 27 Aug, 3.15pm, £7 (£5.50). hitcomet.co.uk
Listings for music outside the festivals can be found on page 115