Temples, Hard Club, Porto, 14.11.2024.

© Telma Mota/Mondo Bizarre Magazine

Lost in translation. Definitely.

words: Paulo Carmona (edited by Raquel Pinheiro); photos Telma Mota

Temples are a band of dreams. The magic feeling is constant throughout the band’s performance. Atmospherically very rich and diverse in the structure of their songs, they take us to rest in meadows that stretch far as the eye can see. An immensity of nostalgia and divine emotions that, in fact, can only be reached in temples of sound in which music is the supreme divinity.

© Telma Mota/Mondo Bizarre Magazine

You almost feel a cool breeze on your skin that gives you goose bumps, a constant throughout the concert. In Move With the Seasons I almost levitated, in The Guesser I dreamt and in Fragment’s Light I almost cried. What more could I ask for?

As the songs flowed, bodies moved to the rhythm of the band’s sound, applause was effusive and appropriate for the marvellous setting. The band felt that the audience was with them and James Bagshaw, the band’s singer, ended up saying that this was thee crowd of the tour. I bet it was.

© Telma Mota/Mondo Bizarre Magazine

I dare say that Temples are one of the best bands of the last 20 years, for its originality and musical creativity, and that Sun Structures is a masterpiece of musical art.Outside, the city is perfectly suited to what was experienced and witnessed indoors. Perhaps because its the city of temples. I still feel it all very much alive and present in me. Thank you, James, Tom, Adam and Rens. Don’t make us wait another 10 years for your return to Portugal and, in particular, to Porto.

© Telma Mota/Mondo Bizarre Magazine

Bernard Butler – Although

Good morning! Bernard Butler plays in Porto for the first time ever today. Although is a song written by Bernard and David Mcalmont as Mcalmont & Butler that Bernard has been playing solo. As for Bernard the song gained a slightly different meaning than the original one of David’s words. In fact, for me, two meanings. Will Bernard be singing it tonight?

Bernard Butler today at Sala 2, Casa da Música, Porto, 9:30pm

Amazing Songs & Other Delights # 73 – The New Things edition por Raquel Pinheiro @ Yé Yé Radio, Monday 18th

Dean & Britta & Sonic Boom © Samantha Tyson

My Amazing Songs & Other Delights #73 – The New Things edition airs Monday 18th, 3-4pm (gmt) on Yé Yé Radio:  yeyeradio.com (or on the app).

This programme features an assortment of new songs.

Tracklist:
01: Peter Perrett – Mixed Up Confucius
02: Naima Bock – Feed My Release
03: Ritta Tristany – Esquina do Chile
04: Gavin Friday – Stations of the Cross
05: Rossana – Inglaterra
06: Tess Parks – California’s Dreaming
07: Fabiana Palladino – Drunk
08: Velatine – Orange to Black
09: Paul Victor – Passport
10: Tunde Adebimpe – Magnetic
11: Rose City Band – Lights on the Way
12: David J Moriarty & Adam Baranello – Fade
13: Raoul Vignal – Icarus
14: Young Knives – Dissolution
15: Brick Briscoe & Kim Giani – Grands Boulevards
16: The Chefs – I’ll Go To
17: Dean & Britta & Sonic Boom – Pretty Paper

All previous shows on mixcloud: Yé Yé mixcloudMondo Bizarre Magazine mixcloud

Whispering Sons, Hard Club,Porto, 08.11.2024.

© Telma Mota/Mondo Bizarre Magazine

words: Paulo Carmona (edited by Raquel Pinheiro); photos: Telma Mota

The preamble serves to highlight the aesthetic evolution of the band at all levels. Whispering Sons developed well and got a place in their type of European rock.

© Telma Mota/Mondo Bizarre Magazine

The band is instrumentally cohesive with a very remarkable and secure well-structured rhythm section. The symbiosis between bass and drums works perfectly. In the melodic section, the guitar delivers sharp, strident and melodic riffs and knows how to respect the silences and dynamics that characterize the songs of Whispering Sons. The keyboards work as a safe network in a nostalgic tone that gives all that fog, at times thick, at times soft, sailing between chilling breezes. Up there, on the trapeze, Fenne Kuppens’ voice, dense, semi-hoarse, deep and disturbing makes the difference and imprints the stamp that characterizes the Belgian quintet.

© Telma Mota/Mondo Bizarre Magazine

Whispering Sons’ performance at Hard club presented a growing and coherent setlist starting with Balm, Something Good and Surface, moving on to Walking, Flying and Try Me Again. It was a concert in crescendo that left everyone, myself included, satisfied. The Great Calm, the band’s largest record is to be heard from beginning to end. And it was with a feeling similar to the album title that I set out on my way home.

© Telma Mota/Mondo Bizarre Magazine