Pete Molinari – Lonely Drifter Karen – Thomas J Speight @ The Borderline 06/04/09

Ok, now that I briefly introduced myself, I thought I would put up my first post so here we go!
Got out of work yesterday after a long afternoon filled with great meetings and was looking forward to finally see Lonely Drifter Karen! The evening started with a conversation about Death Metal with a group of friends, a quick Falafel in the streets of Soho and a couple of beers (well you need to get in the mood!!!).
Arrived at The Borderline just after 8 to see Thomas J Speight open the night. Hadn’t heard of this young man before but after what I have seen, sounds very promising! He sang a few of his songs acoustically with the help of two backing vocalists who added a lot to his songs. He’s got a few gigs in London during the month of April, hopefully will be playing with full band, would like to see that. A track called “November Blues” caught my attention last night: a nice folksy blues ballad which is actually more a duet, sang last night with Jessica Staveley-Taylor. Listening to him last night names like Ryan Adams, Conor Oberst sprang to mind. One to watch out!

After a couple of fags outside, ran back down to watch what I had really come for: Lonely Drifter Karen. Bought her album in September last year when visiting Vienna. Singer-Songwriter Tanja Frinta (vocals, guitar, songwriting), Marc Meliá Sobrevias (piano, production) and Giorgio Menossi (percussion and drums) make up this wonderful band which embraces the diversities of Europe with Miss Frinta coming from Austria but living in Sweden and meeting her band in Barcelona. Signed to one of the most elegant record labels in this modern world (Crammed Discs), her first album Grass Is Singing is now available! She invites you into a wonderful world of cabaret folk alternative sounds. Tracks like “This World is Crazy” and “Climb” are must haves! Last night, listening to her was like being in a film set in Paris introducing the wonderful world of Amelie (Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amelie Poulain)! The stage presence is well balanced creating a nicely crazy atmosphere in the veins of Moriarty or Miss Li; the band coming at one point around her playing the guitar and singing whilst they were making the percussion sounds with sticks and brushes on the base of her guitar. Playing in Southampton tonight, go see her, you won’t be disappointed!

The Headliner of the night then came on: Pete Molinari. Had heard of him and had a couple of songs on some compilations plus the fact he’s enjoying quite a bit of airplay at the moment made me aware of what a great singer-songwriter he was. For those of you who aren’t sure whom he may be, he’s a folk blues singer-songwriter of Egyptian / Maltese parentage, from Chatham where he was discovered by Billy Childish. Coming back from the US, he was “bandless” apart from is upright bass player so last night resembled a cool jam/impro session. When you listen to him, you feel like you have just travelled back to the days of Hank Williams, Woody Guthrie, Johnny Cash and early Dylan. He manages to embrace all these heavyweights of days gone by but adding is own very personal touch, his unique vocal style. And last night I became a fan of “Sweet Louise” which I have been listening to all morning, and actually simply a fan of Pete Molinari himself. Both albums are worth investigating, the first (Walking Off The Map) has a raw sound to it as it was recorded live on half track in Billy Childish’s kitchen and is more acoustic whereas his second (A Virtual Landslide) which came out last year was ranked number 18 in Mojo magazine’s “50 Best Albums Of 2008” and has a more polished finish to it with a full band.

So as you can see, great evening, even my friend who is a hardcore Metal, Trash and Death fan enjoyed it, so that must say something!