There’s a party going on, right
here. How do we know that? There are balloons for a start, loads of them. 39 in
fact. Or maybe 41 (you didn’t expect us to count them all over again?). During
the switchover between spunky Pavement-ists Hockey Night and the headline act,
instead of a couple of lopsided beardies hulking amps around and grunting, there
are several pretty 20-somethings swigging bottled beer, scratching their heads
and pushing things, nonchalantly. And hang on, there are yet more balloons. 50?
60 maybe? More? And then there is the noticeable, audible ‘chatter’. Not like
the terrorist sort, but then not all that different. Something is going to happen
you see, and there is anticipation, disjointed opinion, the dissection of hype
and a certain wavering expectation of failure and ultimate disappointment. It’s
all the Internet’s fault. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah ‘happened’ by accident,
which is perhaps the way it should be. They blew up, without their permission,
into what you could view as the US indie community’s virgin birth. Their cheaply
recorded eponymous debut, rammed full of giddy indie and strained peculiarities,
quickly became lauded like no other, almost exclusively through word of mouth
(or more accurately by the unquantifiable reach of electronic networking). Which
is why this, their first UK tour, sold out quicker than you could cough “My Space”
over the nearest spotty Arctic Monkey’s ‘user’. Their album doesn’t even get an
official release until early next year. Their first single isn’t out till next
week. Which means we’re kind of here on somebody else’s say so. As they
shuffle on anonymously, apologetically, they don’t look at all like a band deserved
of such a fabulously superfluous title. Extended gaps between songs flatline and
we’ve seen more enthusiasm in an NHS waiting room than coming from lead-man Alec’s
mouth. But there is something in the brew, pushing out from between the lines,
and left in the wake of his incomparably nauseatingly vocal. There is something
you just can’t ignore, aside from their initial demeanour deficit. They are a
tight, capable band who seem ebbed on by bonds that gradually form as the gig
progresses – between each other, in themselves and with the audience. And even
from the beginning, the steady, snowballing ‘Let The Cool Goddess Rust Away’,
nothing can take away from how very good these songs are. That’s probably
exemplified by the incredibly buoyant reading of ‘The Skin of My Yellow Country
Teeth’, vibing so much more vividly here than on the album recording, closer to
the Postal Service in overall effect; disciplined, forceful, celebratory. Which
could also be said of tonight as a whole. The album’s sound is of a music box
kicked open, quaint in its strengths. But tonight, while to scale, they’re at
least twice as big sounding. It’s like springing round inside a pinball machine
on its way toward a plug-socket melting hi-score; every beat, riff, refrain rebounding
off another in extravagant relay. They are midway between, but not necessarily
directly linked to, the Strokes, The Flaming Lips, Arcade Fire and Talking Heads.
Tonight it would seem acceptable to say they plant their own flag. The stage gradually
comes alive, and you can accept that this kind of thing needs momentum. Eventually
he rolls back his shirt sleeves, sings like he’s hopping in a tin can of fireworks,
and yodels with balloons and ticker-tape exploding all around him. Though he still
remains an oddity to a degree. There are wide eyes and smiles. This is indeed
a party after all. Relevant sites:
http://clapyourhandssayyeah.com
James Berry for Crud Magazine 2005©
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|
| 04/05 British Sea Power - Live - Scala, London
04/05 Eels - Live - Royal Festival Hall, London
04/05 Doves, Elbow, Longview - Carling 24 , Manchester
04/05 Joy Zipper, ICA London
04/05 The National - 100 Club, London
04/05 Redjetson / Liberez / Twentysixfeet - Marquee, London
04/05 The Warlocks - Bethnal Green Working Men's Club
12/04 Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - ULU, London
12/04 Elbow - Live -Brixton Academy, London
12/04 Franz Ferdinand - Live - Alexandra Palace, London
12/04 Morning Runner - Kings College London
12/04 Carling Weekend Reading Festival 2005
12/04 Sigur Rós - Brixton Academy, London
12/04 Crud Top 20 Albums 2005 |  |
January 2001
July - August 2001
September - October 2001
November - December 2001
January - March 2002
April - July 2002
August - December 2002
January - March 2003
May - August 2003
November 2003
January - March 2004
April - September 2004
October - December 2004
January - March 2005
April - December 2005
January - August 2006
September - December 2006
January - September 2007
October - December 2007
January - May 2008
June-December 2008
| | |
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