Category: Live Concert Footage

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Arte Concert Snapshots Presents: Metz at Le Trabendo Paris

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past three years or so you, you’d recall that with their 2014 self-titled debut and their 2015 sophomore effort II, the Toronto, ON-based trio and JOVM mainstays METZ, comprised of Alex Eadkins (vocals, guitar), Chris Slorach (bass) and Hayden Menzies (drums), received attention across North America and elsewhere for a sludgy, face-melting, power chord-based, noise punk/thrash punk sound reminiscent of Bleach and In Utereo-era Nirvana, A Place to Bury Strangers, Japandroids and others. 

The band’s third full-length album Strange Peace was released earlier this year through Sub Pop Records, and the album finds the band actively pushing their sound and songwriting in new directions while retaining the furious and blistering energy of their live shows; but perhaps much more importantly, Strange Peace may arguably be among the most politically charged material they’re written and recorded to date, capturing the uncertainty, fear, divisiveness, bitterness and growing socioeconomic inequality of the age of Trump, Putin, Kim Jong Un, rampant capitalism and so on. As the band’s Alex Eadkins explained in press notes, “The songs on Strange Peace are about uncertainty. They’re about recognizing that we’re not always in control of our own fate, and about admitting our mistakes and fears. They’re about finding some semblance of peace within the chaos.”

The Canadian punk trio have been relentlessly touring to support their latest album and throughout most of November, they were touring throughout the European Union, and the tour included a stop at Paris-based music venue Le Trabendo, which was filmed by ARTE Concert and La Blogotheuqe as part of their continuing concert series, Snapshots. Unsurprisingly, the footage of Strange Peace’s “Mr. Plague” and “Eraser” manages to capture the band within their sweaty, strobe light flashing, intensity, forcefully snatching the title of “World’s Loudest Band,” and “World’s Noisiest Band” from all challengers. While in the past, they would play extremely straightforward versions of their material, this Paris set finds the trio gently teasing new musical ideas from bits of inspired improvisation. Along with the band’s passionate and frenzied performance, check out the French audience, who are absolutely losing their shit to these guys

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: The Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Anton Newcombe Leads Pure Ensemble 6 at Space Fest 2016

Created by Nasiono Association, Space Fest is annual Gdansk, Poland-based festival of shoegaze, space-rock and alternative rock that features the prerequisite live music, but much like CMJ, Mondo.NYC, Northside Festival and others also features meet-and-greets with legendary and renowned artists, workshops for Polish and other internationally-based musicians, a battle of the bands-like competition for young, up-and-coming bands and more. As an annual celebration of all things psych rock and space rock-inspired, Space Fest in his almost seven year history has gradually become a scrappy yet internationally recognized festival with an increasingly diverse lineup of bands from across the European Union, Poland, the US, Canada and elsewhere. 

One of the festival’s standout highlights over the course of its history is the Pure Phase Ensemble, a collaborative collective that features one permanent member, Karol Schwarz (KSAS), who also manages Nasiono Records, and every year Schwartz is joined by a rotating cast of local musicians and at least one internationally recognized musician, who acts as a guest musical director, mentor and collaborator through a series of workshops and joint songwriting that culminates with the group performing their new material during the final night of the festival. 

Now, if you’ve been frequenting JOVM over the past couple of years, you may recall that during the course of the Festival’s history, they’ve invited the likes of  Spiritualized’s Ray Dickaty, Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier, Placebo’s Steve Hewitt, Marion’s Jamie Harding, Six by Seven’s Chris Olley, The Bad Seeds and The True Spirit’s Hugo Race and RIDE’s Mark Gardener. Last year, The Brian Jonestown Massacre’s legendary frontman and founding member Anton Newcombe led Pure Phase Ensemble 6 with Serena Maneesh’s Emil Nikolaisen, and the collective managed to impress festivalgoers with a live set that included “God Drugs” a menacing, droning, and murky dirge, consisting of layers fuzzy and distorted power chords, thundering drumming and an almost mosh pit-friendly hook over which Newcombe laconically delivers his lyrics. While forceful, the song manages a lysergic haze. 

Also, every year the organizers create a documentary of the festival and the documentary features brief interviews and live footage with festival organizers, Anton Newcombe, who says that his appearance at last year’s Space Fest was a way to convince and entice establish artists that it’s a serious and growing festival; the UK’s MDME SPKR, Italy’s Be Forest, Germany’s Camera, the Icelandic-German act The Third Sound, Poland’s Wild Books, Lonker See, The Fruitcakes, Rosa Vertov and The Czech Republic’s DIV I DED. Additionally, the video features impromptu interviews with thrilled festivalgoers and more. The documentary offers a glimpse of a rarely seen Gdansk, a city with a burgeoning music, arts and nightlife scene, full of hungry, young creatives  — a marked departure from the city’s long-held reputation as a grim Soviet satellite city. 

Interestingly, the videos serve as a teaser for this year’s Space Fest, which take place the weekend of December 1 – December 2 and will feature Maciej Cieslak of renowned Polish shoegazers Scianka, leading Pure Phase Ensemble 7, Italy’s New Candys, Portugal’s 10,000 Russos, Mugstar, Switzerland’s Blind Butcher, Germany’s Odd Couple, Mexico’s Tajak, the UK’s Dead Rabbits and up-and-coming local acts 30 kilo slonca, and Wilcze Jagondy. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Iggy Pop and Metallica “T.V. Eye” in Mexico City

More than enough ink both real and virtual has been spilled on Iggy Pop throughout his ridiculously influential and lengthy musical career, and with the legend turning 70 next month, we should all enjoy him for as long as he’s here to kick ass. Additionally more than enough ink both real and virtual has been spilled on Metallica; so instead of discussing backstory and biography, I’ll say this: Metallica is currently on tour to support their latest album, 2016’s Hardwired . . . To Self-Destruct, and while on a several night run in Mexico City with Iggy Pop as an opener, the members of Metallica invited the legend on stage to play The Stooges’ “T.V. Eye.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Marta Ren and the Groovelets Performing an Acoustic Version of Album Track “Smiling Faces”

Perhaps best known for being the frontwoman of the renowned Portuguese breakbeat outfit The Bombazines with whom she recorded and released two full-length albums, as well as contributing her vocals to a number of nationally known acts across Portugal, the Porto, Portugal-born and based vocalist Marta Ren has been a part of her homeland’s music scene since the mid-1990s. However, Ren has long been inspired by the funk and soul sounds of the 60s and over the past couple of years, she decided that it was time for her to go solo and front her own soul and funk-based project under her own name, before eventually hooking up with her backing band The Groovelets.

Now, if you had been frequenting this site over the last few months of last year, you’d recall that Ren and the Groovelets’ debut effort Stop Look Listen was released to critical praise and received airplay from from BBC Radio 6′s Craig Charles, Radio France‘s Francis Viel. Adding to a growing international profile Acid Jazz Records‘ Eddie Piller has also championed Ren and her Groovelets. “So Long” Stop Look Listen’s barn-burning third single was a visceral bit of soul that balanced fury and sensuality with a decided late 60s/early 70s psychedelic feel — in some way nodding at Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made For Walking” and James Bond soundtracks.

The Portuguese soul act recently recorded an acoustic rendition of the slow-burning and sensual album track “Smiling Faces” for French radio — and although the live, acoustic rendition leans slightly towards a hushed, jazz standard-like arrangement, the song which features a swaggering, Thelonious Monk-like bass line, some bluesy guitar playing, gentle drum tapping and some ethereal yet soaring organ while allowing room for Ren’s aching vocals, which simultaneously express the longing and profound loneliness of a deeply lovelorn narrator, who recognizes how difficult love can be, especially when they are incredibly unlucky in love — and others seem to constantly stumble upon it.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: JOVM Mainstay Nick Murphy Performing “Fear Less” at Brixton Academy

Over the past couple of years, I’ve written quite a bit about the Melbourne, Australia-born, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter and producer Nick Murphy, who for the first few years of his tremendous run of internationally acclaimed success went under the moniker Chet Faker. Last year, Murphy announced that after a lengthy run with Chet Faker, he felt it was time to retire it — and to record new material that reflected a change in sonic direction. Interestingly, with the atmospheric “Fear Less,” shimmering arpeggio synths, stuttering drumming, an insistent and throbbing bass line and an anthemic hook form a chilly and dramatic bed, with which Murphy’s plaintive and tender falsetto floats above. And whereas his previously released material drew heavily from soul and electro pop, “Fear Less” draws from the likes of Coldplay, U2 and others — while retaining the deeply personal and visceral songwriting that has won him international attention.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: See Roger Waters Savage Donald Trump During a Live Performance of “Pigs (Three Different Ones)”

Interestingly enough, Roger Waters posted the live official video of a performance of “Pigs (Three Different Ones),” recorded when Donald Trump was the Republican presidential nominee and while Waters was in Mexico City for a series of gigs playing his classic and beloved material — and it’s an incendiary performance with artist-made images of Trump toting a machine gun outside the White House, giving the Nazi salute and surrounding himself with Ku Klux Klan members. And the performance ended with Waters co-opting the phrase that went viral among Mexicans and other Latinos across the world “Trump Eres Un Pendejo,” which translates to “Trump, you’re an asshole.” It’s a witheringly savage takedown of someone, who needs to be taken down as much as humanly possible and as often as possible.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Motorhead Live at Rock in Rio

Live footage of the legendary Motorhead at Rock in Rio 2011. #lemmyforever #motorheadforever

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Eddie Palmieri Performs Songs from Harlem River Drive

Eddie Palmieri is a legendary, Grammy-winning New York born and -based pianist, composer and bandleader who has released a number of beloved and highly-regarded Latin funk albums that have pushed the boundaries of what the genre should sound like and concern itself thematically, through renowned labels including Fania Records, Alegre Records, Tico Records, RMM and Concord Picante. Back in 1971, Palmieri along with a new backing band Harlem River Drive wrote and recorded Harlem River Drive, a sociopolitically charged album inspired by the inequality that his fellow Puerto Ricans faced in the New York of the early 1970s — and as a result, the album was a fiery and much-needed protest that featured novelistic lyrics that immersed you into its creators world. Interestingly, the album wasn’t a major commercial success but over the years, it became a cult-favorite album, while being as powerful and relevant today as it was when the album was originally released.

Earlier this year, Red Bull Music Academy invited Palmieri and his backing band to perform the material off Harlem River Drive live for the first time in several decades on what turned out to be a rainy afternoon and evening at Harem’s Marcus Garvey Park — and the folks at NPR’s Jazz Night in America shot some great live footage that includes album title track “Harlem River Drive,” “Seeds of Life” and “Comparasa.” Check it out by clicking on the link above and it’ll lead you to a full-screen embed.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Gold Panda Performing “Your Good Times Are Just Beginning”

nterestingly, 2016 may be among the busiest years of the British electronic music artist and producer’s career as his critically applauded third full-length effort Good Luck and Do Your Best, which was inspired by an extended trip to Japan with photographer and collaborator Laura Lewis was released earlier this year. That was quickly followed by the publication of the collaborative photography book, which had initially inspired the Panda’s third full-length effort, and then a surprise EP, Junes Kingdom. Wrapping up the year, the British producer will be releasing his second EP of the year Your Good Times Are Just Beginning on Friday through City Slang Records — and along with an original single, EP title track “Your Good Times Are Just Beginning,” the EP features remixes from renowned electronic music artists and producers Fort Romeau, John Roberts, and Daisuke Tanabe.

Now, the aforementioned EP title track “You Good Times Are Just Beginning” features a dusty yet warm and soulful production comprised of twinkling synths and piano keys, skittering and stuttering drum programming, a looped, jazzy horn sample and swirling electronics in a moody track that sounds as though it draws equally from drum ‘n’ bass, contemporary electronic music and jazz — all while seeming organic and improvised.

The recently released live footage shot by Robbie Knox, is comprised of the renowned British producer and electronic music artist performing at the Norwich Arts Centre and was edited by and features imagery from Gold Panda’s touring visual artist Dan Tombs, who has also worked with East India Youth, Jon Hopkins and Blanck Mass, and has spent the past year touring with, developing and refining the visual components of Gold Panda’s live visuals.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Twin Limb’s Ethereal and Sensual, Shoegazer Cover of Can’s “Yoo Doo Right”

Interestingly, to celebrate the release of their full-length effort, the trio of Bender, Ratterman and Guthrie released a swaggering, moody, sensual and shoegazer rock-leaning cover of the legendary German experimental rock/prog rock cover of Can’s “You Doo Right” that the Louisville, KY-based trio recorded live in their studio — and as you can hear, their cover possesses a towering yet cool, self-assuredness.

As the band’s Kevin Ratterman explained to the folks at CLRVYNT: “When I was building my recording studio, La La Land, Can was one of the constant soundtracks blazing through the speakers day in and out. The meditative, flowing, ever-changing rhythms and melodies were a perfect backdrop for [not only] the monotony of construction, but the excitement of building something where so much creativity was about to be captured. When Twin Limb was a duo before I joined the band, they came in to La La Land to record an album not long after construction was finished. Through working on their record, I most excitedly joined the band and I immediately heard similarities between Maryliz [Bender]’s tribal drum style and the song ‘Yoo Doo Right’ once we started working on their album. I had a fantasy of us doing a cover of that song, and was so excited to hear both their voices together singing it; Michael Karoli’s guitar playing has always been an influence on me, and [I] was so excited to play those anthemic guitar hooks. It’s scary to cover a song by a band that carries so much integrity among some of the most influential experimental musicians of our time, but the first time we played that song, it was so apparent it was going to be so free and fun to play live, especially in a small room packed to the gills of sweaty human creature people.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Lee “Scratch Perry”/Preview: Dub Champions Festival: Lee “Scratch” Perry and Subatomic Sound System at Brooklyn Bowl

Perry turned 80 in March, and remarkably the man has managed to remain youthful, vital, challenging, forward-thinking, innovative, eccentric and imitable as ever as over the past decade or so he’s collaborated with the likes of The Beastie Boys, The Orb, Felix Da Housecat and several others while keeping a fairly busy touring schedule.

The reggae legend returns for the annual Dub Champions Festival at Brooklyn Bowl and this year’s appearance continues Perry’s continued tour with Subatomic Sound System to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of Super Ape — and to celebrate the legend’s 80th birthday. Of course, in honor of that occasion check out some live footage of the great and incredibly eccentric Mr. Perry.