Fuzz You!
Concert and album review, Palma Violets at Bitterzoet, Amsterdam March 28 2013 – Generally speaking the British are just as sober as us Dutch. When it comes to Britpop, however, every shred of reasonableness seems to disappear from their minds. At least three times a year the entire kingdom is convinced that the new Arctic [...]
Yesterday I expressed my annoyance with compatriots who pretend they have always liked the Smiths. I will not be guilty of such falsification of history; I’ve never had a high opinion of the Amsterdam’s rock band Claw Boys Claw. I could claim that thirty years ago their rhythm and blues approach of punk-rock (or vice [...]
The set list of Foxygen’s gig at the Bitterzoet consisted of maybe ten songs, twelve at the most, and still the show lasted well over 90 minutes. Instead of the elaborate psychedelic improvisations we might expect based on the LA duo’s trippy debut album We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic, it [...]
Live review Django Django at the Melkweg, Amsterdam November 18th 2012. If the Beatles had synthesizers they may have sounded something like Django Django. Even though the Scottish-English quartet eagerly incorporate every thinkable cool, weird or danceable element from the last four decades into their admirable mix, it still feels like they’ve just stepped out [...]
Concert and Album review Twin Shadow at the Paradiso, Amsterdam November 3rd 2012. Twin Shadow’s second album, ‘Confess’, has taken me even longer to appreciate than his first one (Forget, 2010). Still, this isn’t why I’ve waited almost four months to review it. The reason is that every time I listen to it, I’m convinced [...]
Album and concertreview of Islands at the Bitterzoet, Amsterdam October 6th 2012. If even the Dutch branch of the Fuzz is going Canadian this may well be the thin end of the wedge. Are our liberators heading for Indie world domination or is it just us? Montreal’s piano rock outfit Islands have no such aspirations. [...]
Concert and album review Neneh Cherry & The Thing, Melkweg, Amsterdam July 16th. If The Cherry Thing had been released a few months earlier the collaboration between Neneh Cherry and Scandinavian avant-garde jazz trio the Thing would have been the biggest hit at Northsea Jazz. The unlikely quartet has recorded a crossover album without compromises. [...]
Concert review Perfume Genius, De Duif, Amsterdam, May 17th 2012. I’m not a big fan of Metallica, but I thoroughly enjoyed their 2004 documentary Some kind of Monster. The reason I like it, is because it shows that if you take a long hard look at male group dynamics, no matter how tough and hard [...]
Concert review Marques Toliver, Amstelkerk, Amsterdam May 16th 2012. The last truly great song recorded by Swindon’s cult heroes XTC is called River of Orchids, opening track to the orchestral album Apple Venus pt. 1. The uniqueness of this grand eco-anthem of a song lies in the tensive build up of layer after layer of [...]
Concert and album review of Alabama Shakes. Albama Shakes live at the Bitterzoet, Amsterdam. Concert review by Manou Chen. If I’m honest, listening to Alabama Shakes’ debut album Boys & Girls initially gave me the impression that the hype machine had been running over hours. Boys & Girls stands-out through its authenticity and its candor, [...]