andrewk

I tried listening to some earlier EPs of theirs, didn't like them, but thought I'd go and see them live anyway.

Their live show was much, much better than I'd anticipated, so I'm looking forward to listening to this very much.

Jim White, Calexico, Friends of Dean Martinez, Howe Gelb (and Arizona Amp and Alternator, Giant Sand, OP8....), David Eugene Edwards (Woven Hand, 16 Horsepower) etc. etc?

Could be interesting, though...

...my theory is that people wanted to wind him up enough to get him to throw his guitar at them...

The drummer was Eric Pollard from Retribution Gospel Choir, so we actually got three bands on stage at the same time for most of their set.

I'm worried about Alan though. His picking was a lot less precise than I've seen it before, and at a couple of points, Mimi was having problems with his timing, and him missing notes out.

I don't want to be a downer though - it was a great set, and although the tri-band ensemble was a bit OTT for some of their more delicate stuff, Little Drummer Boy and Just Like Christmas were sublime.

For what it's worth I'm definitely going to track down some more Ida. I was really impressed with them.

I had to leave after it to catch a train :-(. Hope I didn't miss too much.

I'd pretty much agree with all of it: the problem (if there is one) with Neon Golden is that on first listen it really is very immediate and catchy that it's easy to assume that there's not much more depth to it. It's only when you've been round the block a few times with it that you realise it's actually a breathtakingly wonderful achievement.

I suspect that The Devil will have a similar effeect on me. I've listened two or three times so far, and it's still giving up plenty of secrets, so I don't rate it as good as Neon Golden - yet - but I wouldn't be surprised to find it overtaking Neon Golden in a couple of weeks' time.

...they were a bit rough around the edges, but they had a sound that was all their own, and the music ranged from math-rocky stuff to disco. I was pretty impressed - I felt that they had a lot of potential.

They were also LOUD. Much louder than MBV on Friday (did I mention I saw MBV on Friday :-) )

http://journal.davidbyrne.com/2008/05/05202008-red-ho.html

(and don't miss any of the other stuff on his blog, either)...

...Andrew

I'm concerned there's no mention of Balazs Unger. The man is cimbalom god. Indeed, playing air cimbalom will be the defining trend of 2008, if I've got anything to do with it.

And yes, Jeremy Barnes was still ex Neutral Milk Hotel when he played at ATP in December (with Balazs Unger). What of it?