Glassglue CD, and the Oberoi Mumbai

by Parsley on Sun, 2008/12/14 - 7:32pm Post to Twitter

PARSLEY'S COMMLOCK
Concert/CD Review : Glassglue - Tate Britain, if I were the sky right now c/w spiral stair
Months ago I stopped off at an evening opening of Tate Britain to watch my friend Matthew's band Glassglue in a 2-piece configuration.

Glassglue offer quirky tunes, backing the words of Marcel Stoetzler. The words grab & hold your attention. Marcel is striking visually and it's as if the son of Max Wall had become a German philosopher and was now walking amongst us to simultaneously bewitch and baffle with his musings. In fact he did indeed wander off the stage and mingle with the audience who seemed to feel a mixture of excitement and terror about what surprise might be forthcoming. Matthew provided very suitable musical accompaniment with a harmonium and looping guitar twiddles.

Glassglue are Brecht/Weill for the 21st Century. The venue felt suitably oblique with wine being served outside as if it was a preview night for an art exhibition. Security guards protected the large pieces of surrounding artwork from photographs, when in my case they were simply caught in the crossfire of gig photography.

The event setup also overan ridiculously after the alleged discipline of the arrangements according to the programme card. Nevertheless it was good that this interesting venue was getting used for something exciting and interesting of an evening. It was a good one off that I'm sure will appear in a few people's surreal dreams.

As per their CD, Glassglue usually appear in a more 'rock' line up with drums and bass. This is probably a better way to hold their audience's regular attention. I really enjoy their live performances & think they'd be great on a double bill with Fraff.

These are the tracks on their single:
if I were the sky right now - The lolloping rhythm backs twittering guitar, intermittently cutting out as if being played through a Norman Collier faulty microphone. Marcel lurches in, and it's obvious that this isn't a romantic sky analogy. Rather one and three quarter minutes of song are used to convey a disturbed oblique comment on someone's feelings about someone else. The conflict between the voice tone and rhythm add to the freaky feeling. Somehow it all gels into a logical package.
spiral stair - The title makes me think of Escher optical illusion paintings of stairs going endlessly down or up depending which way you're looking. The plodding verse emphasises the endless walking theme but gives way to a psychedelic distorting organ sound. Afterwards Marcel's vocals creep back and whisper in your ear like a demented German Gainsbourg.

On a visit to Japan I was in a bar called 'Mothers' where the decor was of images from Frank Zappa & Mothers Of Invention album sleeves, and their music played endlessly. At first I was mildly interested but after a few hours ended up with a headache feeling I'd somehow been assaulted. Glassglue, whilst potentially being bracketed as having a similar impact to the Mothers Of Invention, are actually much more engaging because their quirky music is not drawn out and is both genuinely imaginative and highly listenable.

The CD can be ordered from cdbaby.com/cd/glassglue, and there's more info at myspace.com/glassglue, and a video of the song "Embarrassing" at glassglue.info.

World News : Oberoi Hotel Mumbai in terrorist incident
When my Mum won a holiday in India she took me with her. The prize included 3 nights in the Oberoi Hotel Mumbai (Bombay as it was called then). After a fairly dour stay in the Oberoi Delhi and then a poverty-laden landscape accompanying us to the hotel from the airport we were bracing ourselves for what it might be like.

It was and remains the best hotel I have ever stayed in. Its entrance is a massive marble hallway, and an army of workers was keeping every bit of it spotless. In our room we found a welcoming bowl of fruit and hotel stationary that was already personalised with my mother's name!

The exchange rate meant that the expensive minibar was actually just at regular UK shop prices and I had a 7Up. In the midst of the humid weather outside the drink was absolutely delicious and I always remember it whenever I drink 7Up.

After our days sightseeing my mother would order a toasted cheese sandwich from room service and I would have the chips that came with it. Breakfast included scrambled eggs and delicious freshly squeezed orange juice. It was Christmas time and my mother had brought a small Christmas cake for us to have a tiny celebration. Our room service cleaners, not knowing, threw the crumbly cake in a tissue away. When we told the hotel they apologised by providing a large delicious chocolate cake which was very much more to my taste!

So it was with a heavy heart that we learned of the horrible violence that had taken place in somewhere that held such happy memories for us. My Mum heard that staff had even put their bodies between the guests and the attackers in a selfless effort to protect them. Stuff of nightmares.

parsley@gardenrecords.com [www.gardenrecords.com]