Headed out to Koolhaus last night to catch Damon Albern’s latest incarnation, The Good, The Bad and The Queen. While the album seems a bit mopey and introspective, the live sound was massive and dynamic, and the show was dynamite. The band performed a fairly short set – understandable since they only have one album – with Damon and bassist Paul Simonen (ex of the Clash) alternating bandleader position. Afrofunk legend Tony Allen laid down a rock-solid groove, and the band was accompanied by a string quartet. All in all, a worthwhile Sunday evening.
I find Albern’s new direction to be intriguing – there’s a delicacy and deliberate anti-pop sensibility which really forces you to listen. As the composer of some of the most absurdly catchy music of the last two decades – Blur’s Girls and Boys, almost anything by the Gorillaz – it must have taken a lot of discipline to retain the skeletal, subdued tone of GBQ. Either way, he once again takes off in a new direction, proving himself to be the most creative voice of the (woefully named) Britpop generation.
Currently reading: The Looming Tower – Lawrence Wright
Currently hearing: The Good, The Bad and The Queen
Currently watching: Pan’s Labyrinth (dir. Guillermo del Toro)
