fatandconfused

Sirka Ragnar – I am, you are, he/she/it is (How is Annie)

There are times when you can be conned into parting with your money, conned into believeing that you’ve got yourself “a right bargain”, conned into thinking that you NEED to have all the things that are offer in Sainsbury’s the day you enter the shop, the way on Amazon you may end up buying three things you don’t want just to ensure that you qualify for free packaging and so I found myself doing the same when I finally got round to purchase the wonderful Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson album and ended up adding Sirka Ragnar to my basket simply because it was a better deal with three CD’s instead of just the one and now I find myself with one of my best accidental discoveries in years (good things come in multiples as I also stumbled over Our Brother The Native recently as well) in the EP I Am, You Are, He/She/ It Is. A fantastic little five track EP that may just be a little too close to perfect for you to believe.

Five triumphant songs that bear most relevance to Anticons fabulous Why? with tracks such as the wonderful Port Now and (In) Here could well be soon caught up in a head to head battle with the aforementioned Why?’s Sanddollars as my most played song on Last FM all dressed up in electronic drums, half spoken vocals and recorders (??) yes recorders, giving a triumphant, feelgood sound in the manner that Swedish such as I’m From Barcelona, The Concretes, Hemstad, Envelopes etc seem have a knack for. At a push you could add in The Arcade Fire, The Postal Service, Grandaddy and perhaps The Go Team! but more for the high standard throughout than for a replication of sound. Give Port Now a listen and then try telling me that you didn’t spend the rest of the day whistling that glorious recorder part, I guarantee you now that you will fall in love with Sirka Ragnar if you give them just half a chance.
www.myspace.com/howisannie
www.howisannierecords.com/
www.myspace.com/sirkaragnar


Electrelane - The Social, Nottingham, Tuesday 8th May 2007

I have never ever been attracted to girls in heels, in fact it more often than not has the opposite effect. I’m a fan of the girl with the flat shoes, the shorter the better, within reason of course, tonight however the rules have changed, tonight my eyes are transfixed on a girl in green heels, a girl who can play guitar better than I, a girl known as Mia Clarke. I have my friends who tell me that Electrelane look like a bunch of men, I don’t care, their music speaks for it itself, time and again I’ve stated that I find them so pure and organic, the vocals almost heavenly and seriously feel they are in a league of their own, or at the very least they are in the big boys league, up their with the untouchables, the Low’s of this world, the A Silver Mt. Zion’s and the odd few others who are so seamlessly perfect in what they do.

I’ve also said that I’m not sure why Electrelane have never quite shaken their post rock tag that hovers above them but seeing them live for the first time tonight I see that this isn’t so far from the truth, the majority of the set is indeed instrumental, yet somehow they manage to fly high above the normal post rock stencil, the swirling farfisa, the jazzy piano, the complicated bass lines that sadly tie the bassist to the ground and leave her rather lifeless throughout the performance and most of all the crazed guitaring of Mia Clarke. This girl has miraculous technique, cutting it at both ends, between the mad shedding of notes at the high end of the guitar to the extreme riffing that abounds, fingers moving faster than the eye can absorb, screaming feedback from the amp and an ability to make ridiculous noises that Deerhoof would be proud of all whilst complimenting the proficient and dexterous net of sweet melody created by the rest of the band, at times sending a shiver down the spine, the majority of the time making me want to bang my head and stomp my feet like a mad man to these beautiful songs of lost love and loneliness. I heart Mia Clarke but even more so I heart Electrelane. I think now of the time several years ago when I turned down the opportunity to see Electrelane to see the Llama Farmers, maybe I was mad but I don’t think I would’ve understood them quite so much as I do today, and so again I conclude that good things come to those who wait.