Paris Wells - Down On My Knees (Ayo cover)
A bit of an insight into what Paris is doing with her time over in London. Gal can sing. Wowee.
Paris Wells @ The Toff In Town - June 23 2012
This was the first gig in a long time where I’ve gone along with a big group of friends. Normally I’m solo at gigs or at the very most with one or two others. Some of my friends who were fans from the Keep It days were raving about her “new material” not realising it was over two years old and the others who previously hadn’t heard of her left enthralled nearly to the point of obsession.
Paris Wells had just spent a few months over in London so this show was a one-off homecoming of sorts before (semi?)-permanently relocating over there.
The support for the night was local artist Eliza Hull. She has an amazing voice and there were a few songs that sounded really good, but as a whole I wasn’t overly impressed. I assume she is still early in her songwriting career so there is still plenty of room for growth.
Paris was on fire and had the crowd involved from start to finish. The set was pretty standard with all of her singles getting a run as well as the majority of songs from Various Small Fires and Keep It. Lonely, Dat Du Dat, Grace Baby, Jenny, Through & Through and Fuck Your Soul were all flawless.
It was easily the longest set I’ve seen Paris play and with the extra time to play more of her back catalogue she produced one of the best shows I’ve seen by a local artist. It’s certainly the best show I’ve seen for under $20, by a country mile.
The only negative from what was ultimately a great night was how quickly the Toff In Town changed from being a chilled out room full of post-gig punters to a seedy, noisy trash of a nightclub. What the hell?
Ratings:
Eliza Hull - 5/10
Paris Wells - 10/10
(2010: “Various Small Fires”)
Upcoming Gigs
14/10: Skipping Girl Vinegar
17/10: Private Life
22/10: Big Scary*
23/10: Paul Dempsey
25/10: The Tallest Man On Earth
03/11: Missing Children
10:11: Paris Wells*
12/11: Harvest Festival
- Portishead, Bright Eyes, TV On The Radio, The Flaming Lips, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Seekae
24/11: The Vasco Era*
07/12: Gang Gang Dance*
29/12: Falls Festival
- Crystal Castles, Fleet Foxes, CSS, Missy Higgins, Metronomy, Aloe Blacc, Dan Deacon, The Grates, Regurgitator, An Horse, Tim Finn, The Jim Jones Revue, Kimbra
15/01: tUnE-yArDs
08/02: Incubus
* = Maybe
Paris Wells - Hotel Yorba (White Stripes cover)
Paris Wells - Let’s Get It Started
Live Review: St Kilda Fest - February 13, 2011
This is nearly a week late, but as they say: better late than never. For the benefit of anyone reading this from outside Melbourne, St Kilda Fest is a free single day event where the streets of one of Melbourne’s most popular suburbs are closed down. Bars, cafes and restaurants have people hanging from the rafters, there are street performers everywhere, showcases of beach-themed sports (Beach Volleyball, Beach Soccer, Kite Surfing, etc.) and most importantly - live music.2011’s St Kilda fest was the best lineup that I’ve seen since being in Melbourne. The last two that I’ve been to have only really offered one band worth seeing but this year boasted Gareth Liddiard, Paris Wells, Jebediah, Kimbra, Stonefield, Hungry Kids of Hungary and Tim Finn. I managed to see all except Gareth Liddiard. Overall the quality of the performances was great, but only just made up for the hassle of squeezing through 400,000+ slow-walking people while trying to move between stages. Click through for artist reviews.
The Best of 2010: Albums
It’s finally done… My top 20 albums of 2010. Click through for the full list.
The Best of 2010: Songs
20. Two Door Cinema Club - Eat That Up, It’s Good For You
19. The New Pornographers - Up In The Dark
18. The Pipettes - Call Me
17. Paris Wells - Jenny
16. Yeasayer - O.N.E
15. Kyü - Pixiphony
14. Rogue Wave - Solitary Gun
13. The Apples In Stereo - Dream About The Future
12. Sleigh Bells - Kids
11. Familjen - Mitt Bästa
10. Two Door Cinema Club - I Can Talk
9. Washington - Sunday Best
8. Stonefield - Through The Clover
7. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
6. Dirty Projectors + Björk - On And Ever Onward
5. The New Pornographers - Your Hands (Together)
4. Little Red - Rock It
3. Cloud Control - There’s Nothing In The Water We Can’t Fight
2. Kyü - Trains
1. Sleigh Bells - Rill Rill
Hottest 100 Votes
After weeks of deliberation, I have finally decided on my votes for this year’s Hottest 100.
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
Cloud Control - There’s Nothing In The Water We Can’t Fight
Kyü - Pixiphony
Little Red - Rock It
The New Pornographers - Your Hands (Together)
Paris Wells - Through And Through
Sleigh Bells - Rill Rill
Stonefield - Through The Clover
Washington - Sunday Best
Yeasayer - O.N.E
Album Review: Paris Wells - Various Small Fires
Triple J’s 2010 Album Poll
Triple J have opened voting on their listeners’ album of the year poll (linked here). It lets you vote for your favourite 10 albums from a list compiled by JJJ and Kingsmill will count down the ten most popular on the final episode of “2010” (JJJ’s new music show) on Sunday December 12. My votes after the jump. Quite a few of my favourite albums from this year weren’t on the list, so my final list of the best albums of 2010 may not look anything like this.
Live Review: Paris Wells @ Toff in Town, Melbourne - November 24, 2010
Top 20 Australian Albums
With the recent release of the book “The 100 Best Australian Albums” by John O’Donnell, Toby Creswell & Craig Mathieson, I thought I’d put together my own list. My biggest criticism of the albums in the book is the appearance of compilations (greatest hits, live albums), especially when they are quoted as saying The Divinyls missed out because they had great singles, but not great albums… Dodgy.
