Wonderful Daryll-Ann Still Gold

Out of the blue Dutch alternative rock band Daryll-Ann announced the end of the band in 2004. A sad day for the Dutch music scene. Last year by surprise they announced their reunion. A box set with their entire catalogue and a club tour was announced. No way I was gonna miss this one.

Daryll-Ann at Paradiso Amsterdam, March 13 2014



And there we are again. All of us ten years older, but it feels like coming home when the band takes the stage. What follows isn't a trip down memory lane, it's a 2.5 hour set of pure magic. In total 25 songs and 5 more in two encores pass by. And they prove what a great band this was and still is. Beautiful songs like '10.45', 'Serenades For The Lonely', 'All By Myself' and 'The Doctor & I' sound just as strong as they used to.



Timeless songs with beautiful lyrics, lush harmonies and a band that still sounds so fresh as if they never went away. 'Raga The Messenger' is dedicated to Steven Craenmehr, the Dutchman who so tragically died yesterday at the SXSW festival. It's a nice gesture from the band, who are lining up highlight after highlight.



It's always hard to tell if guitarist Anne Soldaat is having a good night. Sometimes it looks like he's having some trouble with his guitar. He's playing his solos and guitar parts brilliantly though. For the rest everyone, including the band, are enjoying themselves on this beautiful night. It's like a good friend returned home after being away for years.



At the end of the show, they pick it up a notch. But after two encores it's really over. Was this really the last time in Amsterdam? Fortunately I will see them again at the Best Kept Secret festival and maybe some other events. But wouldn't it be nice if Daryll-Ann could play a gig like this every once and a while?

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Setlist
01. A Proper Line
02. I Could Never Love You
03. Pretty in Everything
04. Low Light
05. Tools R Us
06. When War Is On
07. Raga the Messenger
08. Tremble Forte
09. All by Myself
10. Mean Love
11. Friends
12. 10.45
13. Everybody's Cool
14. Money or Love
15. Serenades for the Lonely
16. Equally Sympathy
17. Summerdaze
18. Trip the Stairs
19. Riverside
20. When You Cry
21. Always Share
22. Decibel
23. The Doctor & I
24. Stay
25. H.P. Confirm
Encore
26. Mirror Mind
27. Desmond Don't Go
28. Surely Justice
Encore 2
29. A Piece of Work (I'm Trying Her)
30. Thoughts And Words


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Twisted Songs By Two Guys And A Mini-tambourine-doohickey

It would be great to be able to look inside Les Claypool's head. The man behind Primus writes some rather twisted music. Primus' songs already have some mildy insane lyrics. In his other projects this isn't any different, as he already proved in his solo work and for example in Oysterhead. It has to be quite an experience to see from what well these crazy lyrics and music originate. This time he formed the duo Les Claypool's Duo De Twang with his good friend Bryan Kehoe. On Four Foot Shack they limit themselves to only a few string instruments and a "mini-tambourine-doohickey" for the rhythm.

Les Claypool's Duo De Twang - Four Foot Shack (Ronald Says 7 out of 10)

The duo is mainly drawing inspiration from American folk and country music. That's why you'll hear famous folk songs like 'The Bridge Came Tumblin' Down', by Candadian folk singer Tom Connors, and 'Battle Of New Orleans' by the legendary Jimmy Driftwood. Of course everything was pushed through the "Claypool-filter", so it bears unmistakably his signature.

Both musicians wanted to play songs they are listening to themselves a lot. That's why, besides Claypool's own compositions and the popular folk songs, a few cover songs were added to the record. The Bee Gees' disco super hit 'Stayin' Alive' is almost unrecognisable in a genuine Hillbilly version. They got rid of the grunge layer in Alice in Chains' 'Man In The Box'. It is one of Claypool's qualities that he's able to adopt to everything. When you like his other work, this record won't disappoint.

Sometimes it all gets a bit too cheesy, but that's forgivable. Clearly with a lot of fun, the duo came up with a remarkable record, which only gets better every time you listen to it. Despite the cheesiness it then displays the musical quality of both musicians. Hopefully the well inside Claypool's head is far from drying out.



This review has been published on Festivalinfo in Dutch over here.

Listen to 'Four Foot Shack' on Spotify.

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Wooden Shjips Flies Colourful Trip

Last year psych rock band Wooden Shjips from San Francisco released their fourth album Back To Land Its vinyl cover has circles cut from it so the colourful inlay can be seen through it. This is a nice visualization of their music. The spacy music holds references to The Doors and The Velvet Underground. The album is great so it is time to go check them out live.

Wooden Shjips at Bitterzoet Amsterdam, February 19 2013



Behind the band a white sheet is hanging. A beamer projects colourful psychedelic images on it throughout the whole show. Only a few other lights are used. It is a nice effect and totally supports the lengthy spacy jams. My small compact camera is incapable of taking decent pictures though. The band members are totally into their colourful world, hardly addressing the crowd. In the end that doesn't matter, because with this amount if reverb on the microphone, the few words Erik Johnson is directing to us are impossible to hear properly.



Words are totally irrelevant anyway. Most of their music doesn't have lyrics and doesn't need them. It's the grooves that count, the psychedelic jams that put you in a hypnotic trance. In between a songs you can still hear the effects buzzing from the amps as if water is running. Mostly the bass is pumping similar grooves with the drums, while keys and guitar are jamming away. Just when you think this may need a bit more variation they kick into a more classic rock tune. The keys do remind of The Doors from time to time. In the dark with all those projected colours it feels like we stepped back in time. If it wasn't for the smoking prohibition you probably would get high from just the smoke in here tonight.



All credit to the band who manage to lay down this atmosphere. Like on the album it doesn't take long to submerge into the hypnotic sounds of the repeating grooves. Similar to the cover we travel from circle to circle until we can see the whole colourful picture.



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