My review from last nights Micah P. Hinson gig for eGigs is half-complete. It was an odd, shambolic, strangely compelling show and I’ve been agonising over content. Sonic Breakfast gives me a temporary reprieve from that.
Another Liverpool Sound City preview today as it draws ever closer. Indeed, in a weeks time, delegates will no doubt be heading to breakfast, nursing their hangovers, convinced that they’ve just seen the next big thing.
Saskatchewan’s best, Rah Rah are already quite a big thing in their native Canada. Back in 2009, they were awarded ‘Best Alternative New Artist’ and ‘Best New Canadiana Artist’ by I-tunes there. I’ll be completely honest that this genre, ‘Canadiana’, is a new one on me but I guess it’s one we can file Neil Young under. Since 2009, Rah Rah have simply developed this initial promise. Last year’s album, ‘The Poet’s Dead’, confidently strides across a variety of styles whilst never straying far from tuneful, lyrical, country pop ensemble. It’s like a more accessible, less awkward Broken Social Scene. I’ll probably be hated by many for saying that this is no bad thing.
I understand that Rah Rah’s live show is something else. The six members of the band show off their talents by swapping instruments mid song. They take turns with percussive instruments, climb on their amp stacks and bounce from whatever fixture and fitting will take them. They’ve been known to sprinkle audience members with confetti. It all sounds like an interactive, immersive experience – the sort of show that Arcade Fire will be trying to pull from their bag in a couple of months from a Somerset field.
You get two chances to catch Rah Rah over the Sound City weekend. They’re playing Korova on the Friday night (which apparently isn’t the iconic venue from yesteryear but a place that has simply adopted the name) and groundbreaking, no alcohol bar, The Brink on Saturday at midnight. Which one of those two do you think I’m more likely to be at?
sonicbreakfast 