Two suns fail to dazzle

Is it just me? All over the web people are blogging the praises of the second Bat for Lashes record, Two Suns. I rather like it too, but I feel that reviewers are going a bit overboard with their praise (e.g. Pitchfork).
It's a very pleasant record with some strong songs, and Natasha Khan has a great voice. Everything here is going in the right direction. But overall I find it rather too slight, rather too conventional for all the praise it's getting. It's good, yes. But not great.

A comparison with one of my favourite recent albums, Under Byen's 2007 LP Samme Stof Som Stof, is perhaps instructive. Here we see a band that have truly mastered their medium (through 15 years of hard work), and for whom conventions are not restrictions but toys to be played with or ignored as required. Natasha Khan is on the right track and definitely a talent to watch for the future. And that's the good news: this album might be good, but the next one can only be better.

Bat for Lashes will play at the Kulturkirche in Cologne on 18 May
View event info on last.fm

A day at the races

Having grown up in England, racing is a pastime that I associate with the Derby, the Grand National and ladies in funny hats. Basically an experience for the elite and the addicted.

Going to the races in Germany is, in comparison, a pleasantly democratic experience, involving everything that you would expect from a Volksfest, including sausages, beer, fried fish and red-faced gentlemen mopping brows warmed by indulgence in the aforementioned foodstuffs.



As well as offering relaxing atmosphere, our local racecourse in Cologne also provides a gently-paced racing schedule which allows racegoers to flow from track to paddock and back to the track like a gentle human tide.

But I think I'm beginning to overreach myself on the metaphors. Whatever - I'll be there again a few more times before the season is out.

A new bike

I went to our local bike shop this evening and tried out several two-wheelers. Having been out of the picture in terms of bikes for at least 15 years, I needed some advice, and the salesman in the shop was very helpful. Three test rides later, I finally settled on the VSF T50, which offered the optimum mix of city bike and firmer feel that I appear to like (not something that I necessarily expected). Not wanting to spend my money without doing the due dilligence, I also checked out other offers, but I finally decided to go for the one that I liked in the first place. A question of gut feeling I suppose.

What struck me today is how much bike technology has moved on: the dynamo for the headlight is now built into the wheel, the back light is an automatic context-sensitive dynamo-driven affair, and in order to shift gears, you simply twist the inner part of the right handle and the gears slip smoothly from one to the next. Even the chain has disappeared behind a slick, flexible cover, so no more bicycle clips and ruined trousers.
Here's to being a biker! Leather jacket and Lemmy beard to come...

Emiliana Torrini in Cologne

Emiliana Torrini can speak German, and she does it with a delightful Icelandic accent. Unless you speak German too, you'll not understand the hilarity of a shaggy dog story that she told about a "Gemüseschwanz". Whatever, it caused plenty of amusement for the 20 to 30-something crowd who had assembled to see her play in the "Kulturkirche", a deconsecrated church that puts on concerts, book readings and other cultural events.
As a space, the church enjoys a certain originality and atmosphere, especially for goth bands, I suppose, but this can't make up for two massive failings that are sure to make any passionate gig-goer pause.

The first problem is the sound. At last night's concert it was disastrous: a steely sheet of treble that bounces off the stonework and hits the listeners from every direction. At the other end of the scale, we had to send out a search party for the bass. In fact, the sound engineer may have thought it was some kind of fish for all I know, because he certainly didn't think that it was required to give weight, form and substance to the music. Which was a real pity, because la Torrini is a spirited and delightful performer, and her band also played on bravely against the treble storm. The quieter songs come over well, and the gig was worth it for these alone, as Torini certainly develops a poignancy and power in these ballads which could tumble into inconsequentiality in other hands. Standing watching her in my outdoor coat, I almost shed a tear.

And that's the venue's second problem: no cloakroom. This might be alright in a squat (where you wouldn't want to put your coat down, or trust the "staff"), but in a venue charging over 20 Euros for admission it's inexcusable.

Thumbs up, therefore for Torrini and band, thumbs down for the Kulturkirche.