Saw it-very good line-up alright-Radiohead and probably the two most interesting female singer/songwriters doing the rounds at the moment. First time to see Feist perform live and really impressed by her, great guitarist and such a fine, distinctive voice, the deeply peculiar Cat Power and her band made a great sound but her vocal and body mannerisms are hugely irritating yet I am a fan (much prefer her 'Moon Pix' era), Radiohead excellent also...but to be honest I've never been a huge fan of 'Later with Jools...'. It's a little in love with itself , a little staid and predictable, the whole self-conscous desire to be as eclectic as possible, it's chin-strokingly pretentious, the whole format of the show leaves little room for spontaneity and ultimately leaves me cold.

I loved when 'At The Drive In' were on and they went completlely crazy..I was thinking-that's more like it, this is what rock music should be about: sheer wild abandonment, tearing up the rule-book, etc etc...after they finished, you could almost sense that Jools was annoyed at them for behaving like that on his nice, safe rock programme.

I'm sure everyone else likes it and it's good to have quality music on TV etc, but I don't think rock music should be contained and compartmentalised in such a way.

d'you really think?

i know i can sound like i'm just being awkward at times... but i find these two to be possibly the LEAST interesting singer-songwriters of the moment... cat power is living on glories past and isn't her new album another covers album?... admittedly i only have the first feist album which was mostly written by josé gonzales and was OK i suppose...

Do I really think? I think they're interesting in comparison to the usual mainstream or even non-mainstream female acts out there,...I only have 'Let It Die' by Feist and it's good...I was going to buy 'The Reminder' but I was put off by the Apple promo she did...hyprocritical, of course, as I own and love my iPod!

Yr right about Cat Power, a second covers album is really pushing it and I think her last proper album was overrated, really don't like that Southern-blues direction she's taken, the 'old' Cat Power was much more intriguing, 'Moon Pix' and 'You Are Free' are great albums. Live, she's not much cop really. Didn't like her gig in Tripod last year at all, very dreary.

So yes, there are prob more intersting female acts out there if I looked a little harder...Kathleen Edwards, Sarabeth Tucek, Sia, Goldfrapp to name but a few...

Do I really think? I think they're interesting in comparison to the usual mainstream or even non-mainstream female acts out there,...I only have 'Let It Die' by Feist and it's good...I was going to buy 'The Reminder' but I was put off by the Apple promo she did...hyprocritical, of course, as I own and love my iPod!

Yr right about Cat Power, a second covers album is really pushing it and I think her last proper album was overrated, really don't like that Southern-blues direction she's taken, the 'old' Cat Power was much more intriguing, 'Moon Pix' and 'You Are Free' are great albums. Live, she's not much cop really. Didn't like her gig in Tripod last year at all, very dreary.

So yes, there are prob more intersting female acts out there if I looked a little harder...Kathleen Edwards, Sarabeth Tucek, Sia, Goldfrapp to name but a few...

yeah... moon pix is great, isn't it?... but i guess that's a lot to do with mick turner and jim white...

i know people seem to love her or hate her but joanna newsom really does write some awesome stuff... aside from her playing, the song structures and the words are just amazing... many folks don't see it though as if they do manage to get past the vocals, they sometimes can't get past the allegories and turn of phrase, thinking it archaic or some such nonsense....

...as for a more minimalist approach of songwriting, i believe nina nastasia to be without equal... hers songs are quietly devastating and she tells a million stories in very few words...

...for full out noise with shredding guitars but an underlying pop sensibility and most of all fun, marnie stern is my woman...

....for indie-pop, tracey ann campbell (camera obscura)

...for amazing stories of the sea by someone who doesn't realise her own talent... hms ginafore

"And your words chased round and round in my head
Last night
They chased their own tales
And your words jigged round my mind all night
To look at me now, I’m quiet as sound

And the tide shrinks back into its womb
And I hope the empty shells and bones of your stories
Will litter and clutter the shores
And I hope that when I find them
I’ll remember how they danced
And the racket they made
When they were alive"

I agree with what you are saying here. I read an article recently where she looks back on her vocals on past works and she says that she was 'afraid to sing', but if anything I think that seems more like the case nowadays.




I can almost see your point but it just doesn’t bother me. It’s the only program on the telly that really gives you an opportunity to see decent live acts. He obviously does have to try to cater for all kinds of music and more than likely has a team of advisors but I find him likeable nonetheless.


I would recommend that you both get Feist’s The Reminder. I don’t have either of her previous albums but I love this and she & her band put on a whopper of a show in Tripod. Extremely talented human beings!

Saw this one.. yeah - Cat & Feist were great.. Radiohead, excellent - very understated playing & vocals.. the way I like it. The only thing I don't like about this show is that f**king irritating little dwarf that introduces it. Whoever let him escape from the set of Willy Wonka has a lot to answer for.

barring Desperate Housewives, Later....is the show I look forward to most of a week. Granted Jools may be a bit quirky and a bit lacking in the neck department, and I've been known to lift the remote when some of the 'world music' acts start, but its still a top show...there would be nought decent shows without it

PQ

Comparing the likes of Joanna Newsom and Feist is just daft. Sorry but it's true.

Joanna Newsom makes fairly out there avant prog folky stuff.
Feist makes pop music, shes a proper pop star, like Donovan or Marc Bolan, which is a rare thing nowadays (as opposed to a tabloid celebrity who occasionally releases records or jumped up Karaoke competition winner)

Thats not a put down of either, I just think it'd be like comparing Radiohead to the Ramones, but they're both female, they both play accoustic instruments much of the time, they both write songs, so we lump them in the same singer/sonwriter category?

I mean, if we're asking who is the best female solo artist out there writing her own stuff? Easy. Ellen Allien.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Allien

The Culture Show on BBC2 is pretty decent, though it does clash with the Premiership which is a shame. Got into Boston Legal recently (being an insomniac) - almost worth watching just to see James Spader & William Shatner getting fatter by the week!


"I've been known to lift the remote when some of the 'world music' acts start,"

I'm with you on that one!

Funny how no-one's mentioned Mary-J Blige's performance.. surely we can lump her in the Feist / Cat Power genre?!

i don't disagree with you.... comparing, comparing... i just didn't particularly rate either cat power or feist as interesting female songwriters... so i listed some who i did...

...that said, i don't see cat power or feist being a million miles away in "genre" (if we have to talk in genres) from those that i did list... is feist really any more "pop" music than joanna newsom?... i'm not sure about that

Feist is a fine thing!

Yes.

It doesn't get any more pop than this:



Simple, radio-friendly catchy tune that sticks in your head, an "earworm" (buries its way into your brain whether you like it or not). It's a bit of cliche, but it's the "can you hum it?" factor. Of course, the entire album is not like that, but pop music is about singles anyway. Joanna Newsoms music is more rhythmically complex. It's easy to use that simplicity to dismiss Feist as dull coffee shop music, but that would be to miss her subtlety and exspressiveness as a singer. Perhaps shes not the most interesting out there, but far from dull.

By the way, her "Gonzales" co-conspirator was not a Jose, but the lesser known Chilly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonzales_%28musician%29

fairy 'nuff...

i can't actually see what you posted there... as i said, i don't know too much about feist but was kinda going on the 'let it die' album which i do have... good to know gonzales is a different geezer...

...so, i covered a few songwriters on my earlier post...

...my "pop" one was tracey-ann campbell of camera obscura...

Boring Coffee Shop music;

Jose Gonzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......

Ally - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8Z-DIAthbM ...if you can't see the embedded video.

Camera Obscura are great by the way.

forgot to mention it, but starbelgrades off-the-cuff point about Mary J. Blige is a damn good one! She's a hell of a lot more involved in the creation of her own records than most, but we don't call her a singer-songwriter? I know we covered this before, but it's such a hilariously audacious "we are the centre of the freaking universe" genre label. It'd be like an author inventing a new genre of fiction and calling it "book-writing"

I meant they should all be lumped in the "tits & ass" genre. (One for da ladies there!!!)

Anyhow - did anyone hear that song she did - "Feel Like a Woman"?
The lyrics were atrocious....

"Feel like a woman. (I don't wanna compete)
(I just wanna be the only girl that you need)
Feel like a woman. (Boy, I want you to be everything to me)
(Don't wanna be deceived)
Feel like a woman. (I don't wanna fuss and I don't wanna cuss)
(I just wanna feel the love from both of us)
Feel like a woman. (Now I only wanna do what you tell me to)
(Won't you show and prove)
Feel like a woman."

But when I heard THIS line I fell off the sofa laughing....

"If you're on your way home, stop and buy me something, ohh."

HAHAHAHA!! yeah --- I'll get ye a bag of Skips & some chocolate Buttons - how's that for ya?!?!

Hahahaha, classic.

She wants you to pick up some natural yoghurt too, you don't wanna know why.

I'm intrigued - but not enough to ask!

I noticed Mary J. Blige grooving and swaying when she was watching Cat Power and Feist, perhaps she'll bring out a new record that's heavily influenced by both, thus making it easier to lump her in with the pair of them. Or maybe she'll keep singing about yet another avalanche of drama in her life...

I'm sure this'd go down well..

"They'd no natural, love, I got you hazelnut instead".

ida maria's guitarist, jeebus wept, some sound...superb

PQ

Yeah - they were great. Pity they didn't play "Drive Away My Soul" though. Prize for most contrived band in a LONG time goes to British Sea Power aka British Arcade Fire. "Oh let's have 2 wrestlers in the back, wrestling very badly". Spinal Tap without the humour.

Joe Brown was brilliant.

I watched last week's show last night (bought a DVD recorder - yeaaaaa!!). All I can say is thank f**k for fast forward buttons. The one decent act on it were Hot Chip & I always look forward to seeing them & am always terminally dissapointed.

They're bloody awful as a live band - they used to have major sequencing problems, but now that's sorted, the singer's woefully poor vocals stand out even more.... he sounds fine on record, but dreadful live.

Jesus - a few singing lessons / vocal training & some vocal warm-ups before performing can't be too much to expect, surely?

The 1st song on Allison Moorer's MySpace page is "I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl", followed by "Ring of Fire".

She must've got the sugar in the wrong bowl!