Anyway, after the wonders of Gong at the Meltdown festival I went to see the astounding Yndi Halda at the Barbican on the following Friday. They were supporting Ólafur Arnalds who I’d never heard of before — an Icelandic chap who does that kind of electronica / modern composition thing. I didn’t think Yndi Halda’s set really got going until the second half and it ended with in complete meltdown with ‘Illuminate my heart my darling’. The new stuff was pretty interesting with lyrics and all.
So, following that off to My Bloody Valentine at the Roundhouse on the Monday. I knew their reputation for noise terror and this was confirmed by others who went to see them on the previous nights so I wore my earplugs all the way through in a true rock and roll style. Glad I did, especially for the noise-drone apocalypse at the end. It was so loud it warped time, so I have no idea how long it was — fifteen, twenty minutes? I have never seen an audience so keen to leave the auditorium and was probably the only gig where a dedicated fanbase didn’t call for an encore.
What I didn’t manage to do was to get to any of the Radiohead gigs in Victoria Park. I have no idea how I managed to miss these being announced but I did. Odd, seeing as I get RSS alerts from Dead Air Space but I obviously just chose to ignore them. As I write this I’m listening to “Radiohead From the Basement” which just confirms for me, rather unfortunately seeing as I missed their gigs, that they are simply the best band ever and “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” is well on its way to being my favourite Radiohead song.
“From the Basement” is well worth checking out: songs from ‘In Rainbows’ and its mini-album sequel played live in Nigel Godrich’s studio. I was particularly impressed with Thom Yorke’s drumming on “Bangers and Mash”. Two drummers? One of them a singer? Hmm, watch out, it could all go a bit Seconds Out if you’re not careful. Anyway, it shows them still at the top of their game. How many other bands have remained so good fifteen or so years into their career and developed with every album?