REVIEW: Al Green live @ Royal Albert Hall 05/11/08

Wednesday 5th November

The Reverend Al Green brings sex music to the Royal Albert Hall...

...but first we had to endure the tame warblings of one of Britain's most popular (see also 'tedious') soul singers, Gabrielle. Once she had completed an extended (seriously, kill me) version of 'Dreams' it was time for the real fun to begin...

For those who don't know much about him, Memphis man Al Green has been on the soul and gospel scene since 1971, and I'm pretty sure that he and Marvin Gaye between them are responsible for the creation of at least 60% of the children born in the 1970's. At the age of 62 he continues to deliver his brand of sex music with the same power that he did even 30 years ago - the voice is still incredible, almost as impressive as his apparently incessant desire to get his end away with most of the crowd's female contingent. For a short, tubby man, dressed in a three piece suit with lilac waistcoat and tie to still have women throwing themselves at him, almost fighting one another to cop a feel of the big man, is testimony to the effect this man has had on the music world.

Playing down rumours that he had a funny turn in the dressing room before the gig, the Reverend Al paraded around the stage with his trademark bouquet of red roses, handing them out to women on the front rows, venturing further into the crowds to get a little extra loving (the security guards were on high alert as it looked like he might get mobbed at this point)

Serenading the crowd with big hits "I Can't Stop", "Let's Stay Together" and "Tired of Being Alone" to name but a few, we also heard a few tunes from his new album, unsurprisingly named "Lay It Down", which features guest appearances from the likes of Anthony Hamilton, Corinne Bailey Rae and John Legend.

Not only that but Big Al found the time to include a few amusing life stories and sang a medley of songs from his own heroes, including The Temptations’ “My Girl”, Otis Redding’s “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” and Sam Cooke’s “Bring It On Home”, get in.

Finishing the hour-and-a-half long performance with Amazing Grace, we left the gig feeling very good about life and wanting to get it on with anything that moved.

Reverend Albert Green, we salute you.

The ADN Project Christmas Special!

Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without an ADN special, so why not grab it here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/3nn341

On the 2008 ADN Christmas special...

Christian and Dan are back with a Santa's sackful of excellent tunes designed to jack your festive cheer up to 11. Expect a musical stocking stuffed with goodies from the likes of Justice, Bon Iver, Florence & The Machine, The Mighty Underdogs, Toots & The Maytals and Frightened Rabbit. Elsewhere, Vampire Weekend get covered, Friendly Fires get remixed and Death Cab For Cutie get (very) festive. Combine that with more nonsense chat than you could shake a tinsel covered stick at (not to mention a visit from The Broadcasting Standards Agency) and you've got yourselves a tasty Christmas treat.

We've had a whole load of fun making shows this year - we hope you've enjoyed listening in. Massive thanks to everyone who tuned in / bigged us up / rinsed us / helped us out or just said hi during 2008, we appreciate it muchly. We're going for bigger and better things in the new year - look out for series 3 in early 2009!

Until then take care and, of course, have a very Merry Christmas!!!

Big big love,

Alex, Dan & Christian

As promised, Wiley...

Given that Christian was practically blowing his beans over Wiley's video for 'Cash In My Pocket' (episode 8 streaming now, sure) we thought it only right that we stick it up on here. The boy Nashums wasn't lying either - this is a masterclass in how to do the low budget video properly...



Poor old bankers, eh?

Series 2, episode 8 out now!

The latest installment of The ADN Project has hit the web and is waiting for your ears right here

On this week's show...

19 chunks of aural chocolate from the likes of Takka Takka, Dodos, Idlewild, Kanye West, Sigur Ros and Beastie Boys. Dan brings us album of the week courtesy of of preppy New Yorkers Ra Ra Riot, Golden Silvers provide a not unsubstantial slice of fresher than fresh Hoxton ubertrendiness, whilst Slow Club bring us some festive cheer with their drop dead gorgeous Christmas record - not to be missed!

Elsewhere Alex commits a heinous act of Mariah Carey related sabotage, debate rages over the ADN top 10 records of the year and Dan wonders just where the Library have gone. Seriously, where the f*ck are they? Answers on a postcard people.

Go on, give your ears an early Christmas present...

Tracklist

1. Kano - 'Hustler'

2. Mr Hudson – 'There Will Be Tears'

3. Idlewild – 'Everyone Says That You’re So Fragile'

4. Dr Meaker – 'Bad Boy Calling'

5. Mariah Carey sabotage! / Kanye West – 'Welcome To Heartbreak'

6. Beastie Boys – 'Skills To Pay The Bills'

7. Takka Takka – 'Everybody Say'

8. Dodos - 'Fools'

ALBUM OF THE WEEK: RA RA RIOT 'THE RHUMB LINE'

9. Ra Ra Riot – 'Can You Tell'

10. Ra Ra Riot – 'Too Too Too Fast'

11. Cathey Davey - 'Reuben'

12. Wiley – 'Money In My Pocket'

13. Devendra Banhart – 'Long Haired Child'

14. AU – 'RR vs. D'

15. Kid Cudi – '50 Ways To Make A Record'

16. Golden Silvers – 'Arrow Of Eros'

17. Sigur Ros - 'Inní mér syngur vitleysingur'

18. Slow Club – 'Christmas TV'

REVIEW: Hot Chip live @ Brixton Academy 07/11/08

It's safe to say that this was a night that didn't get off to a flying start. First Wiley pulls out for reasons unknown, then I have to sit through a full half hour of unremitting toss courtesy of his replacement Max Tundra. At this stage it's worth noting that reviewers, the rest of the audience and, clearly, Hot Chip themselves love(d) this bloke, so maybe its just me. Personally I'd rather eat my eyes than sit through his 'LOOK AT HOW WACKY I AM, I WEAR PYJAMAS ONSTAGE, LMFAO, ROFLCOPTER!!!!!!!!!' routine again, but seeing as I was about the only person in the place not smoking his pole by the end of his set, please do take my opinion with a sizeable pinch of salt.

Thankfully Hot Chip blew the roof off the gaff, so all dubious support slot decisions were very much forgiven. In the live arena, their songs regularly take on new identities - almost always for the better. I love bands who do that. If you want to go and listen to a CD really loudly, go and spend your hard earned dollar on tickets to see The Killers. 'Over & Over' in particular took on an extra set of balls, shaking Brixton right to its very core. Evidence here:

Other highlights included opener 'One Pure Thought', the old classic 'Boy From School' and the much underrated 'Wrestlers'. Special mention must also go to 'Ready For The Floor' - a true pop materpiece which had everyone in the place grinning like chesire cats and pulling all manner of dubious 'signature moves': (the big balloons helped too)

So, a great night for all concerned. They may look like the kids from school who were rubbish at PE and who frequently ended up stuffed into lockers, but Hot Chip are definitely having the last laugh. Make sure you catch them when they next roll into your neck of the woods.

Setlist

One Pure Thought

Bendable Poseable

Shake A Fist

Boy From School

Hold On

Touch Too Much

Over & Over

Wrestlers

Out At The Pictures

New Song

Ready For The Floor

Encore

New Song

My Piano

No Fit State

Nothing Compares To You / In The Privacy Of Our Love

Dizzee on Obama

First up, we'd like to add our congrats to everyone stateside who voted for change - I'll be honest, after last time we were a little bit nervous over on this side of the pond!

Seems like everyone's jumping on the feelgood factor bandwagon. Take Dizzee Rascal for example - the East London MC made a hilarious cameo on last night's Newsnight, when he was asked to give his two pennies worth on the big O. Is Dizzee the first man to render Paxman speechless? Most probably.

Check it out:

Justice: upside your tellybox

Excting news currently doing the rounds - Ed Banger big hitters Justice will be releasing a documentary / live CD set entitled 'A cross the universe' (see what they've done there) on November 24th.

If the following trailer is anything to go by (lesbians! norks! freestyling homeless man! guns! occasional bits of music!) you should be getting that request off to Santa quicksnap:

That's almost a sex wee scenario right there.

And just in case you need reminding quite how good they are live, check out this clip - with the guargantuan 'Genesis' seamlessly morphing into 'Phantom' - recorded live at 2007's uber festival Coachella:

Finally, enjoy this excellent remix while you wait patiently for the DVD to hit the shelves.

Justice - 'Genesis' (Datsu Remix)

No-one seems to know who this Datsu fella is, but fair play - this is massive. Enjoy.