Since it's Valentine's day, here's one of my favorite tracks from English band; Archive. This is such a unique band that I like so much! Formed in London in 1994 and still going on, over the years they have released over 10 albums (excluding the live ones!) and more than 20 singles. You Make me Feel was first released in 1999, as the 1st track of Take My Head. The band is still touring, mainly in Europe, with 3 upcoming gigs in France, and there are rumours they are working on their next album, expected to be released in 2012!
On Saturday I started my festival day at the Red Bull Music Academy with D/R/U/G/S, then October, Al Tourettes and Appleblim. I briefly saw Crystal Castles, but didn't enjoy it, her voice doesn't agree with me... I then went to Rizlab to see Hannah Holland, who played an amazing set, mixing techno with electro and really great visuals. It's so great seeing DJs that enjoy what they do and dance with the crowd! The atmosphere was so positive! At Bollywood I also heard some really good techno from Bok Bok and Claude Vonstroke, even got a CD from Vonstroke, which I still haven't listened... At the main stage I saw PJ Harvey, who was amazing, although I felt like I wanted something more dance at that moment and of course The Cure, that were unbelievably good! They must have played around 2.5hrs, they went off the stage and back twice, you could see how much they were enjoying being there and this energy was projected to the crowd. And i think the last thing I saw on saturday was LFO, who played quite hard and noisy. It was really good, though I don't think I would have been able to have seen them any earlier than last.
I was so excited last night when PJ Harvey was announced as the winner for the Mercury Prize 2011. 'Let England Shake' is such a brilliant album! I went to see her earlier in the year at Troxy in London during her european album launch tour, where I bought the album. The gig was amazing and I knew it straight away this album was a special one and since I got it I've been playing it over and over. Although looking at the other nominees for the Prize last night, there really was no competition for PJ Harvey...
PJ Harvey is currently on tour launching her 9th studio album Let England Shake. I was at Troxy last night at her 2nd London show as part of this tour with another 18 gigs still to come in Europe and the States.
The venue was full and the gig started only 10mins late of schedule, which gave the audience just enough time to get in, get their drinks and take their sits. It lasted about 1hr and 20mins. Most of the tracks played were from the new album and were truly remarkable! All the reviews I had previously read were really positive so I was really looking forward to seeing for myself. The new album has a completely different feel from her previous ones. Having read some of her interviews, I knew that PJ Harvey had focused her lyrics around themes of war, struggles of life, England... That made me think that the tracks would probably be quite aggressive. Instead, I found the music quite uplifting and the lyrics more nostalgic and soft than I expected. The album is very different than her previous ones, her voice is just so strong and the autoharp she plays adds so much to the character of the album.
To get a feel of what Let England Shake sounds like you can listen to the 11th track of the new album...
Not surprisingly most of the remaining dates have been sold out for some months now. There are still some tickets up for grabs for her shows at the Main Square Festival in Allas, France on 3 July, Piazza Castello in Ferrara, Italy on 6 July and the All Tomorrow's Parties event at Alexandra Palace in London on 24 July.
