Oompa Radar (Part II)

[j4]

Goldfrapp
The Junction, Cambridge, 8th August 2005

Thanks to sion_a we managed to get tickets for Goldfrapp's "hush-hush" pre-tour warm-up gig at the Junction on Monday. (Dear The Junction: if you want a gig to be secret, don't advertise it on your website and in the local papers. HTH.)

I sometimes worry about getting my facts wrong when I write reviews, but this time the award for most factually inaccurate gig review seems to have already been won. The non-existant support band, by the way, were The Shortwave Set, whose peculiar brand of scratchy psychedelic pop ("Saint Etienne meets Sergeant Pepper", apparently) I was quite happy to sample (as they were to sample everything else) for the duration of a half-hour set.

I'd been differently but equally impressed by Goldfrapp's first two albums -- from the lushly beautiful synthscapes of "Felt Mountain" to the feisty glam-pop of "Black Cherry" -- and, what with that and the infectiously stompy new single "Ooh La La" having already stamped itself on my brain through nonstop airplay on 6 Music, I expected good things of the new material.

I certainly wasn't disappointed. They mostly played material from the first two albums, but the new material that was aired sounded as good as the old stuff: no wildly new direction, but satisfyingly crunchy basslines combined with Alison Goldfrapp's confident and charismatic vocals make for a glam-pop cocktail that I'd happily drink all night. A heavily stripped-down and scrunched-up cover of "Yes Sir, I can boogie" took us by surprise (it took me a couple of choruses before I really believed what I was hearing), but certainly proved that their reputation as "pop alchemists" is justified -- they can transmute pop (and probably bass/metal) into pure Goldfrapp.

Comments

[sparrowsion]

the award for most factually inaccurate gig review seems to have already been won
Wow, that really is wrong on so many counts.
crunchy basslines
That's one way of describing it. "Stomach churning" would be another. That was definitely the downside to the gig—I like to listen to my music, not feel it. (In my diaphragm, in the can of Coke I'm drinking, in, and I'm not kidding, the hairs on my arms….)

[the-elyan.livejournal.com]

Oh piss.

Not only did I forget about this at the vital moment, but now you say the support band was someone I also like - have bought The Debt Collection, and am slowly learning to love it.

If you like proper pop music, look out for "Set Yourself On Fire" by Stars, out on Monday - haven't heard it yet, but their previous two albums (the first of which I have driven myself banans trying to get on CD) are anything to go by, it should be excellent.

[sbp.livejournal.com]

They also had a false start on another new song "Ride A White Horse" and decided to ditch it. I heard it at the Big Gay Out and it's not bad.

My writeup's on the goldfrapp community - http://www.livejournal.com/community/goldfrapp/115210.html

[sbp.livejournal.com]

And Janet - that review's from 2003!!!

Goldfrapp, Cambridge Junction, Monday 3 March 2003

[j4.livejournal.com]

Oh, ah, um.

Right now I'd really like to claim that I was just being ironic/witty/clever/anything other than completely braindead...

*facepalm*

Ho hum. Thanks for the link to your writeup, anyway. :-)