One major step in this process is bringing good quality, official music videos into the fold. From today, music videos are available for many artists listed in the Compendium, courtesy of MTV Networks. MTV Networks encompasses not only MTV itself, but VH1, CMT and Logo; meaning that a wide variety of artist videos are served.

From worldwide artists such as Led Zeppelin and Britney Spears, to some of the excellent, but perhaps not so far-reaching, artists like Fleet Foxes and TV On the Radio.

In the event that there aren’t any official videos available, the Compendium will still fall back on Youtube as a source of video goodness and attempt to sift through the chaff of potential matches for the artist being viewed. I’m keen to keep this an option at all times, as user-submitted videos are often more revealing about an artist than carefully planned and meticulously orchestrated official videos ever can be – peculiar fan films, shaky concert and festival footage from the pit, interviews from late-night TV you’d otherwise miss and much more.

Since this is brand new, you may experience a few teething issues. I’m still investigating a few details surrounding the broadcast of music videos, and the availability of these videos across the World. Music is global, but copyright and content licenses are sadly xenophobic areas. And currently just a randomised selection of official videos are being shown for each page-view – paging through videos akin to the way Youtube videos are displayed is due shortly.

Oh, and if you happen to find the Compendium a useful tool, please take a moment to vote for it on Programmable Web -it was a proud “Mashup of the Day” at the end of last month-and feel free to add any suggestions or comments to this journal entry.

Oh, Field Day! You were so close!

The bars were much, much better; no need to make the choice between seeing a band or missing the entire set queuing for a few beers. By the way, festival-organisers take note: cans > plastic glasses for speed, convenience and spill-free factor. Nice one. But the toilet situation is still a disaster zone. People drink… people pee. That is the way things are. 30 minute queues to use portaloos is just silly. That said, for the guys, it wasn’t bad. Stage times… err… what’s when, and where? The cancellations of one or two bands appears to produce the sort of chaotic, truly random reordering that many mathematicians and programmers spend lifetimes trying to understand and achieve. And the sound still isn’t much to shout about. In fact, shouting at the main stage came with the risk of drowning out the band onstage.

But enough with the negativity!

Festivals are about enjoying music and Field Day – “London’s psychedelic Summer fete” – is nonetheless a gem in the British Summer Festival calendar, packing another great set of acts into an unfortunately grey August Saturday. It’s a shame we weren’t lucky with the sunshine this time, but hey, when the music’s good it’s a moot point. At least it gave me the change to air out the wellies before Green Man next weekend.

Highlights

Emma Pollock

A leisurely morning sleeping meant I didn’t reach the festival site until around 2 o’clock with a plan to catch Tunng on the Homefires stage. This stage, tucked away near the main entrance and compered by Adem, is home to the quiet’n‘folky side of of Field Day. Courtesy of the upturned scheduling, I instead happened across ex-Delgados singer/guitarist Emma Pollock as my introduction to Field Day 2008.

Without any idea of who I was seeing, it was a very welcoming set of lively indie-rock that reminded me a little of Howling Bells – who I’d incidentally missed earlier on in the day, just less of the noir. Pollock is quite a beguiling lead, with a friendly stage presence and a voice that keeps you listening. The music is just a little too tame to really make a lasting impact. Still, one to investigate on record as I think they offer more than came across.

http://www.emmapollock.com/

Tunng

Aah, Tunng. You can’t go wrong with Tunng, and I’ve yet to find someone who hasn’t like them on first listen. Even with a post-birthday hungover (so we were told), they’re a treat to hear. The great thing about live Tunng is how the intricately recorded records are given new life outside the constraints of the record player. Electronic sounds pop and purr out from places you hadn’t previously heard, and vocal harmonies are afforded much more presence when you see the group working together. Again on the Homefires Stage, it was turning out to be the-place-to-be.

One standout track, of many, was Soup (from 2007’s Good Arrows), if only for Mike Lindsay’s cock-rock gesturing during the guitar solo – distorted acoustic, headbanging, with one foot raised on the foldback wins. And Jenny Again – one of their best from Comments of the Inner Chorus. A darkly tender story of an eloping girl and her lover, and what might have been. Just lacked enough volume on the tweeting-birdcage toy to make it a perfect performance.

http://www.tunng.co.uk/

Jeffrey Lewis

I’d not had the pleasure of seeing Jeffrey Lewis live before, but I had heard good things of the man. Not going in with any expectations, I was completely won over. Both hilarious and intensely creative, Creeping Brain – with brilliant hand-drawn storyboard as accompaniment – and a song about accosting Will Oldham on the L-Train (Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror) were definite highlights of the festival. I’m still surprised it’s possible to write such a song about the Bonnie Prince.

http://www.thejeffreylewissite.com/

Les Savy Fav

It was tricky decision; Efterklang at Homefires or Les Savy Fav on the main stage. The fact Homefires had been consistently good throughout the day didn’t help. But as much as I like Efterklang, the Les Savy Fav live experience is something one cannot miss. After all the quiet music, I desparately needed something a bit more raw.

Forcing our way to the front, my fellow festival-goers and I squeezed ourselves into a cosy spot down the front in preparation for the ensuing madness. If you’ve not been to a Les Savy Fav gig before, it’s difficult to explain what happens. And that’s because there’s no way to know quite what’s going to take place. Essentially it involves singer Tim Harrington disappearing in and out of the crowd, be it in a romper suit, pirate suit, jumpsuit, fully-clothed or not (in the space of one set) to the sound of heavy indie/art-rock/punk music. He’s one of the best showmen around, and powered by a super-tight band they produce a quality show.

At this point, the rain was starting to get a little more intense, and it couldn’t be more appropriate. Harrington appeared on stage, dressed in a raincoat, with a bundle of ‘lost festival shoes’ and proceeded to distribute them among the crowd. And soon after, the first strains of The Equestrian (from 2007’s Let’s Stay Friends) started to sound and I recalled Harrington’s speech at the start of the last Les Savy Fav show I saw – we should forget about the past and the future and only think about now, free ourselves for the moment. The heavens properly opened for the first time in the day, and it was a truly glorious moment. Soaking wet, pogoing aplenty, carrot missiles [from the earlier carrot-eating contest, no less], comedy underpants and all kinds of mess. It made the whole day worthwhile.

http://www.lessavyfav.com/

King Creosote

There’s a little danger of attaching stereotypes to a Glaswegian singer-songwriter with a guitar – it’s going to be dour and depressing Scottish folk. But no so. King Creosote was a nice closing memory of the festival. Although some of the Scottish-isms were lost of me (and I expect much of the shandy-drinking Southerner crowd) the simple comic tale of Ladedadeda Dadedum Dadedum, with The Pictish Trail accompanying, brought a smile to my face and with it a neat balance to the intensity of Les Savy Fav.

http://www.kingcreosote.com/

And so, with an overriding need for a bit of warmth and home comforts, forgoing Foals, Simian Mobile Disco and the remaining acts of the day, it was off to the awesome Palm Tree – the only way to end Field Day. Complete with gold lamé wallpaper, a live ratpack band and a local boozer atmosphere, it’s a worthwhile visit if you’re in the area.

I have high hopes for the next Field Day [assuming there’s still enough cash floating around this time next year] and I highly recommend getting yourself a ticket too.

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Ys by Joanna Newsom

"Ys" Cover Artwork

First released in 2006

Tracklisting

1. Emily (12:08)
2. Monkey & Bear (9:28)
3. Sawdust & Diamonds (10:55)
4. Only Skin (17:53)
5. Cosmia (7:17)

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I won’t deny I’m a big fan of Joanna Newsom (and besides, it would be fairly obvious from my profile on last.fm), and so was always going to enjoy it whatever the weather, but it really was a memorable performance and the feedback I’ve read so far has been similarly positive. I saw her last year in a much more intimate setting at the ATP festival from just a couple of feet away, where she alone previewed several tracks from Ys. At that point, I had no indication of how amazing they would sound when played in a large venue with orchestra, and I’m glad to have now seen both sides.

She ran through the entirety of Ys for the first part. To hear Van Dyke Parks‘s arrangements played by the London Symphony Orchestra was awesome. And although it was a by-the-numbers rendition, to hear it played by a live and highly regarded orchestra made it all the more impressing. Some of my favourite moments on Ys are the interaction between Newsom, her harp and surrounding instruments. There are moments during Only Skin, from about halfway through where she spliced Be a Woman into, that I think has truly genius moments — near “Though we felt the spray of the waves / We decided to stay ‘til the tide rose too far.” in particular. Incidentally her beau, Bill Callahan/Smog, was there to provide his vocals for the closing moments of Only Skin – a nice extra bonus, even if he does join in for but a few verses or so in the whole 17-minutes.

That night she was accompanied by two of the players she’s been working with on the current tour — strings (guitar, banjo, and something similar to a lute) and a percussionist/vocalist. I wasn’t sure what to expect of these guys initially, but they turned out to be one of the high points. The percussionist in particular played with a great deal of space, adding very subtle touches — a tap of a tambourine or a cymbal brush — complementing the sound to perfection. Anything more and it would have been distracting. I have high regard for his playing, and how well he managed with backing vocals. Same for the guitarist, played respectfully to the record without being stilted by it and adding his own personality to it jumping from instrument to instrument. We were informed he was responsible for organising much of the live arrangement, so great respect for that. Nonetheless, the unaccompanied performance of Sawdust & Diamonds was breathtaking, and proved the strength of her solo performance.

Many artists might have ended the set at that point, but she dutifully returned centre-stage with the two accompanists. Wearing a different outfit, she informed us it was “not a Christina Aguilera costume-change“. She’s evidently a fairly nervous performer, but does have a good sense of humour and creates a good rapport with the crowd. We got a number of tracks from Milk Eyed Mender; Sadie, Bridges and Balloons, The Book of Right-On and Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie — being as you might expect, stunning. I was really hoping for En Gallop!, but no luck.

Never get so attached to a poem / That you forget truth that lacks lyricism

She also played a traditional Scottish folk song Ca’ the Yowes to the Knowes, beautiful , and one new track I’d not previously heard (I later learnt this was “Colleen“, prior to the EP release). That, I feel, was the pinnacle of the night. She’s again evolved stylistically if this is an idea of things to come. It sounds much more based in traditional folk than anything she’s done before, especially playing as a three-piece. Features a fast and very rhythmic motif bookended by an sinister tone, with influence of North African or perhaps Turkish and Algerian music, which she lets out an superb percussive yelp to.

The accompanying players really shined here, and I had a few visions of The Pentangle, if only a double-bass was present. The harp, in its piano-like nature, appropriately fills in the tonal space. Really looking forward to the new stuff — hopefully there will be plenty more previewed at ATP in April.

One notable aspect is the significant change in her voice over the last year has put a different twist on familiar tracks — they come over with much more measured grace, and feel somewhat more natural. However, the harshness and occasionally unpalatable quirkiness of her voice was what initially appealed to me, and it does feel like she’s lost something in that. It is admittedly a better voice now, but there’s always a danger that she might end up sounding too ‘nice’.

I think it’s going to be hard to top in the coming year of live music. If you do get the chance, I highly recommend you go and catch her live, you won’t be disappointed.

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Seven Days of Falling by Esbjörn Svensson Trio

"Seven Days of Falling" Cover Artwork

First released in 2003

Tracklisting

1. Ballad for the Unborn (6:32)
2. Seven Days of Falling (6:26)
3. Mingle in the Mincing-Machine (7:52)
4. Evening in Atlantis (1:50)
5. Did They Ever Tell Cousteau? (6:05)
6. Believe, Beleft, Below (5:51)
7. Elevation of Love (7:43)
8. In My Garage (4:18)
9. Why She Couldn't Come (7:30)
10. O.D.R.I.P. (14:24)

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Seven Days of Falling is a predominantly laid-back and user-friendly affair. This is accessible jazz, more suited to the populist imperative “chill out” than some of the clubber’s fall-out that is offered under that banner. Despite unprepossessing titles such as Ballad For the Unborn, E.S.T seem to pack just enough emotion into their stark and simple melody lines, with strident chords bracing an ever watertight trio structure.

Like a stripped-down instrumental Sigur Rós, much of the album – Elevation of Love, Why She Couldn’t Come – can maintain as somnambulatory background music, but it also prompts closer inspection. Ears open especially when the tempo is raised (the exception rather than the rule), as on Mingle In The Mincing Machine, where bassist Dan Berglund indulges himself (not for the last time) with Fuzz effects. Elsewhere, he even uses a bow! On_ Did They Ever Tell Cousteau?_ meanwhile, a highly-compressed and flanged drumset offers a new texture with its ardent pace. Far-removed from frenetic bebop, such forays away from the typically contemplative vein are more in time with the Dave Brubeck Quartet‘s rhythmic fantasies and accordingly, Svensson’s piano occupies a similarly bright and emphatic leadership to the mix.

The critic Stuart Nicholson rather overwrote a comparison between E.S.T. and Radiohead in his review of this album for the Observer Music Monthly, but it is obvious where he is coming from. A wider claim can be made, however: that jazz served up this way appears as a rather enigmatic sum of familiar features, a digest of common harmonies and rhythmic ideas that occur and re-occur in a whole swathe of popular bands. Every rock musician with a premonition or the pretension has been ripping off jazz themes for years, so it seems unremarkable that the traffic turn two-ways. Without treading on “fusion” territory, E.S.T. incorporate a number of production techniques from rock, but thankfully still have the economy of jazzmen: the album was recorded in 8 days and mixed in 5. After the bombastic wig-out finale of O.D.R.I.P., the only vocals appear on a hidden track, Love is Real, courtesy of guest Josh Haden. They are understated in a typically mannered way, and reinstate the melody of track 6, Believe, Belift, Below, guiding the album to a lilting and familiar finish.

By turns straightforwardly uplifting and archly melancholy, Seven Days of Falling has the depth to provide far more delirium than what the title literally offers. D.Rose

With Mr Dibbs of the 1200 Hobos joining them behind the turntables, it’s easy to love these guys, as they celebrate the last night of their tour by throwing free CDs, DVDs and vinyl into the crowd. But in many ways the distinctive vibrancy of their records didn’t find itself into their live show. The sound erred too much on the side of bombastic, with much of the duo’s pithy couplets too often being rendered inaudible.

Atmosphere make a stand for redistribution and you can almost hear the crowd wonder: “where’s my free stuff?”

The usual hip-hop postures began to creep in – although it is difficult to see how Atmosphere could become “bigger than Jesus and bigger than breast implants“ without them – and the justification of the multiple “hands in the air” call-and-salute routines during the night sounded a little half-baked. Apparently, we all come together as a community like the fingers of a hand clenched to form a fist. You do the math(s).

Empty rhetoric was also disappointingly obvious on Slug’s T-shirt, emblazoned with “Misogyny is a bitch.” Right, so “racism is a nigger” and “homophobia is gay” then, are they? With the jubilant Party for the fight to write, I sensed a confusion of ideas, and as the perfect teenage rant Scapegoat came to a close, the almost inevitable anti-George W. Bush tirade began.

Now I have a lot of time for criticism of the American President, but Slug reduced it to “Yah-Boo!” demagoguery and then Mr Dibbs relied on a scratched-up version of Killing In the Name Of by Rage Against The Machine to up the energy. An attempt was made at channelling the entire dynamic and reactive, negative logic of that song through the crowd but it appeared to pass most of them by. Atmosphere make a stand for redistribution and you can almost hear the crowd wonder: “where’s my free stuff?”

Despite some miscommunication or opportune posing, Atmosphere still present a pretty fresh approach to hip-hop, and although their live performance wasn’t entirely faithful to expectations, they’re still well worth a sample or a few. D.Rose

And rightly so: his first full-length release, Sha Sha, was one of the most infectious pieces of genre-hopping indie-pop that any of us are likely to hear. Two years later, this is the follow-up; and somehow, despite being almost literally born and raised a songwriter, it still sounds like it’s BK’s first go (a pretty damn good first go) at making something of himself in the music world.

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On My Way by Ben Kweller

"On My Way" Cover Artwork

First released in US / 2004

Tracklisting

1. I Need You Back (3:19)
2. Hospital Bed (4:39)
3. My Apartment (4:59)
4. On My Way (4:56)
5. The Rules (3:39)
6. Down (4:10)
7. Living Life (4:04)
8. Ann Disaster (3:10)
9. Believer (5:01)
10. Hear Me Out (4:46)
11. Different but the Same (5:01)

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As with Sha Sha, his lyrics are often quite charmingly ingenuous which, coupled with the little-boy-lost voice and gangling moon-faced looks, gives On My Way an air of musical virginity quite at odds with reality. Take the closing song, Different But The Same: You can win / And you’ll take home the gold medallion / And ride the wobbly wave of fame / That is why you came.

By rights, unless a song has been written for The Wombles or Bob the Builder, there should be no way for the word ‘wobbly’ to find its way onto a lyrics-sheet. But Kweller sings with such good-natured sincerity that it’s impossible to object. The down-beat On My Way opens in a similar vein: I want to kill this man but he turned around and ran. / I’ll kill him with karate that I learned in Japan. Kweller somehow still lives in the childhood world of endless American sunshine, where bikes ride to the park and city pools / It’s summer now, empty the schools (My Apartment), and boys and girls play make-believe: ‘You be Betty!’ / ‘I’ll be Betty!’ / ‘And I’ll play Joe!’ / ‘You play Joe!’ / And we’ll crawl out of my window (Hospital Bed).

Another trait which pleased me is a bit of inter-album lyrical continuity; everyone who’s heard the first album’s Commerce, TX will remember Ben claiming: I’ve got a pet hedgehog / he’s drinking jaeger all day, but the next verse began: I’ve got a new best friend / Ann Disaster’s her name / we’re passing out on the carpet / and our attributes are the same. Sure enough, Miss Disaster returns with her own song: You made a comeback and now you’re ready / to attack with our eyes wide open / I know what you want / you want a piece of me. Guess that didn’t work out too well then.

Yet for all this, BK still knows how to rock. The punk’s still there in the background somewhere, in the abruptness and economy of some of the choruses, in some of the guitar sounds. But there’s more scope to his new work than there was with Radish, if only because he can now do quiet as well as loud. Sound-wise, it’s all very sixties somehow; no Cubase or Kaos boxes here, which will suit some listeners better than others. Also, for an artist who sometimes gets labelled ‘anti-folk’, it’s pretty folksy too; Kweller admits to being a massive Bob Dylan fan, and although they don’t sound alike, I think there’s a similarity in the respect given to proper song-writing.

On My Way isn’t as diverse as Sha Sha. which makes it less interesting; and there’s certainly nothing on it as insanely catchy as Wasted And Ready. Even lyrically, if you fancy trying BK out, his debut is the record to get (though if you can get hold of any live tracks, they’re well worth a listen too). But once you’re familiar with it, a second invitation to Kweller’s benevolent, sunlit world will be hard to resist. E.Kelly

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Operation Infinite Joy by Martin Tielli

"Operation Infinite Joy" Cover Artwork

Tracklisting

1. Beauty On (3:05)
2. OK By Me (6:43)
3. The Temperance Society Choir (4:48)
4. Sergeant Kraulis (5:27)
5. Andy By The Lake (6:20)
6. Cold Blooded Old Times (6:53)
7. Winnipeg (6:21)
8. Waterstriders (5:24)
9. Ship of Fire (8:13)
10. Kathleen (3:12)

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An album that, on reflection, I cannot recommend highly enough. These are songs that exhibit by turns theatrical pomp and delicate musing. Tielli has a multifarious camp icon of a voice, showcased as Beauty On‘s detuned piano reminisces on the scale of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody – bar a pretty xylophone and handclaps, this is all that structures the about-faces from bathos to boogie. Tremendous stuff.

The instrumentation swells for OK by Me, ripping-off a phrase from Dig a Pony by The Beatles, but doing such progressively interesting things with it that idea of sacrilege does not occur at all. The Temperance Society Choir and Sergeant Kraulis are reminiscent of Queen, Bowie, Yes and more excesses and digressions of 70s prog-rock joyously abound. The average track length on the album is about five and half minutes, but the songs never settle just long enough to catch a killer hook before they’re off, on another tempo change, tape loop or multi-tracked riff. If pranksters The Darkness want somewhere to go on a new album they would do well to take note of this – it seems at one and the same time a homage, pastiche and reinvention of the styles concerned.

Andy By The Lake meshes a folksy Led Zeppelin guitar with a Nick Drake vocal and Mark Hollis-style interesting piano touches to emerge in Jethro Tull country, that make it genuinely affecting, even if it does eulogise the weather: “thunder, lighting…rain.“

Cold Blooded Trees is relatively spare and unchanging, but has a vocal full of apt Bowie phrasing driven along by bass and tambourine, blossoming into a Hedwig and the Angry Itch-style declamation.

Winnipeg is a tight power-ballad painted with the colours of the first tracks, where the guitar sounds are particularly finely-wrought. Waterstriders is more ethereal Tull. So is the eight-minute Ship of Fire, which tells a gruesome narrative of a death at sea and its consequences, its verses defined with strident shades of Fleetwood Mac – “tiger sharks as slaves…“ The guitars are again spot-on, without being too flashy.

A charming hymn that develops out of multi-tracked vocal harmonies, Kathleen shows that even the end of the album has a capacity for invention and surprise.

It is possible to appreciate Martin Tielli on a number of levels. A one-man eclipse of Jack Black and the Rocky Horror Picture Show, he is well worth a listen for a laugh: crank it up and camp it up. But he can also give you a quite comprehensive sonic history of seventies rock, and taken head on, the tail end of the album has a drama and power that is undeniable. D.Rose

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Structure And Fear by Cat on Form

"Structure And Fear" Cover Artwork

Tracklisting

1. I Broke A Nail (5:42)
2. Sell The Kids To The Kids (3:58)
3. Mr. Spotlight (3:40)
4. Rock And Roll Song (3:08)
5. Set Them On Fire With Their Own Matches (4:21)
6. A Whip In One Hand, Gold In The Other (3:04)
7. Nothing Ever Gets Any Better (2:30)
8. Action Happening (3:52)
9. Back Off Man, I'm A Scientist (3:55)
10. Palace Of Lights (3:48)
11. Blood Drained (3:59)
12. Broken Dialogue (8:36)

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Too true. Seemigly pissed off with pretty much everything but drunk on hope for a positive place for humanity, they’ve transferred the ethic of punk into something more palatable, but equally as vicious. Between the horror-movie screams, jagged guitars and Sonic Youth-induced noise there’s evident thought and intelligence in the album. Musically, you can’t flaw Cat on Form. Solid drumming, pumping basslines and inventive guitarwork seal the album up in a tight package. No case of ‘We’re Angry and Just Want to Rock™’ here. Signed with Southern Records, they are ferocious, plaintive, surreal; all and more.

I Broke a Nail opens the album with 2 minutes of dissonance informing us of a society offering ‘everything that’s nothing’, before kicking off with a quality bassline supporting some truly vitriolic expression. It does a good job of preparing you for the rest of the album. The jugular attack of Action Happening, the rising tension and angular guitar lines of Mr Spotlight and the pounding intensity of Set Them On Fire With Their Own Matches with its echoes of Soundgarden sludge-metal.

But it’s not all full-volume. Nothing Ever Gets Any Better, Palace of Lights and penultimate track Blood Drained is Cat on Form marking their own circle – no, make that a rough circlelike emblem – in ambling post-rock territory. Admittedly I would have preferred to hear more of that side of the band, but I think it would detract from their instant impact. Blood Drained is a quiet track that instantly sat with me. Maybe I don’t have the leanings for the harder elements, but it was the delicate guitar lines and sedate vocals that brought me back to it first after the initial spin.

Structure and Fear is grim, beautiful, thought-provoking and pretty frightening at times. A sonic exegesis of the defective society of our time… only that most of the time you just can’t hear it.

The band have a clustered line-up on Ronnie’s cramped stage – 5 saxophones, 2 trombones and bass trombone/tuba, 3 trumpets, bass, piano and drums – but are “big” in more than one sense, featuring jazz luminaries such as Eddie Henderson, Guy Chambers, John Stubblefield and pianist Kenny Drew Jr, whose father played with Coltrane, Rollins and Lester Young among others.

The opening strident riffs of Power Point Blues balance on a discordance of trombones and saxophones, with charismatic vocal interjections by Ku-umba Frank Lacy, Rastafarian trombonist and soul man, judging by the way he swings it.

The sound of a tight big band is one that can get under your skin and coarse through your veins…

The sound of a tight big band is one that can get under your skin and coarse through your veins, and the tempo and mood changes that are so vital to Mingus’ music sweep past with the character of scenery on a chauffeur-driven ride. An extract from Mingus’ two-hour through-composed suite Epitaph, Children’s Hour of Dream is especially sumptuous, developing a successive series of ideas.

When Lacy again grasps the microphone it is to recite the pointed Don’t Let It Happen Here a German priest’s remorseful poem concerning the Nazi era, which Mingus sets to an anguished cacophony of brass that builds to a foaming climax. On lighter tones we hear the instrumental romantic story of Passions of a Woman Loved, with a compelling dialogue between ‘female’ alto sax and ‘male’ trombone. And the Thelonious tribute Jump Monk.

The band’s second set opens with the rousing funky soul calls of Lacy on Devil Woman – don’t we all want one? And then we doff caps to the influence of Duke Ellington’s suites with his Sound of Love. The bass-led Peggy Blue Skylight gives Boris Zoslov the chance to deliver a delicate solo and Orange Was the Colour of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk emphasises the stroking glissandi of the trombone section.

The night draws its veil with the irresistible Boogie-Stop Shuffle, a standard given a twist with the overlay of the apparently derivative 70s Spider-man theme on top – Is he strong? / listen ‘bud / he’s got radioactive blood… Very cool. D.Rose

Beginning his career as half the NYC duo The Moldy Peaches, Green is now a solo act. He is an awkward conversationalist with little formal education but has been writing songs since age 12 and is confident of his ability. Green’s two albums, Friends Of Mine (2003) and Garfield (2002) are carried by Rough Trade.

Green’s recent gig at ICA came as a shock to fans accustomed to the lo-fi bedroom recordings of Garfield, when all he needed to rock was an acoustic guitar. While Green aspired to be a crooning hunka hunka indie love, taking up a full band so that he could concentrate on vocals, he sadly lacked confidence. Such could be considered his charm-it won over the ICA crowd by positioning Green as just one of them. After all, he did name-drop Dostoyevsky and thrift store in the same breath.

Green combines a Lou Reed-esque laissez faire attitude with child-like lyrics that share in the spirit of ’80s art rock duo They Might Be Giants. Yet, instead of singing about science and famous painters, we hear There’s no wrong way to fuck a girl with no legs. Green’s encore, a lovely solo rendition of My Shadow Tags on Behind from Garfield, showed that, despite enthusiastic efforts to fake stardom à la Har Mar Superstar, Green belongs with guitar in hand. N.Harren