(This review first appeared in issue #71 of Shindig! magazine.)
Omnivore CD
In any artistic medium there's a risk of embarrassment when juvenilia is available for public consumption. Not so here. This collection, culled from Ardent Studio's 1969-1971 tapes and centred on the early works of Chris Bell, Jody Stephens and an ever-rotating group of East Memphis musicians (most notably Tom Eubanks and Terry Manning) is, if anything, an embarrassment of riches. Early versions of 'My Life Is Right', 'Oh My Soul' and 'Try Again' are included along with several previously unreleased tracks.
Pre-Big Star groups Icewater and Rock City are well represented, and there's three tracks credited to The Wallabys, (albeit aided by Bell and musical compatriot Steve Rhea). It's clear the studio downtime at Ardent, primarily awarded to Bell to sharpen his skills for the nascent Big Star, was not wasted. Clever production touches and skilful arrangements abound, as does a shared sense of fun and discovery. A true joy!
(This review first appeared in issue #71 of Shindig! magazine.)
Etoile 7”
Montreal-born singer guitarist Mat Treiber makes old-school rock 'n' roll using the broad strokes of rock's primary colours. Blues-based three chord tricks, hooks, catchy choruses with neat guitar solos somewhere in the middle. “So what?” you cry “we done heard it all before!” Well, yes but for one thing it still works. Added to that is Treiber's extremely likable nasal drawl and killer ways with a slide guitar solo.
Both sides of this 7” were recorded live at what sounds like a lively evening at LA's Mint Club. 'Go All Around The World' is a prime slice of punchy Transatlantic rock, kind of like Tom Petty fronting The Who, though it's the flip-side 'It's OK Today' that has more catchy melody. Brits will have a better chance of experiencing Treiber's music in a live setting as he's recently relocated from Los Angeles to the English countryside. See you down the front!
(This review first appeared in issue #70 of Shindig! magazine.)
Viziarmonic CD
Jason Wagers makes music as The Corridors out of his apartment in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. More of a studio-based project than a band, The Corridors came about after Wagers became jaded with the under-paid, under-attended gig circuit. His re-focusing of energies is to our benefit. Stylistically loose and varied, this seven song album is difficult to pin down genre-wise but therein lies its strength.
Each song is a mini-cinematic adventure. Whether it's the domestic drug troubles documented in 'Ghoul', the Barrett-esque melody of 'Elixir Divine' or the magnificently titled 'Granny, Put Down The Gamma Ray' complete with vocoder vocals and sci-fi feel, it all holds together.
I'd wager that Wagers is something of an Anglophile, a neat guitar player in the John Squire indie-funk mould, and a singer from the Ray Davies school of vocals. True or not he's made a record that puts bigger names and established studios in the shade.
(This review first appeared in issue #70 of Shindig! magazine.)
Self-release CD
Crunch, hook and swagger are the key words that summarise this Seattle-based quintet's latest release. Their collective listening pile may lean heavily towards the glam rock of the early to mid '70s (think Sweet, Slade & T Rex), but the gutsy rock/pop they make has been given a contemporary speaker-pushing sheen. It's an in-yer-face guitar wall of sound topped with catchy melodies.
'Come On' channels Rod and The Faces, all bluesy bar-room boogie whereas 'The Bedazzler' passes itself off as a lost Chinnichap production, a feelgood glam stomper up there with anything Giuda and Faz Waltz have made.
Vocalist Steve Mack, best known from his days with That Petrol Emotion, is in fine voice, just the right side of raspy, and is backed by a band whose joy in playing is palpable. It's the sound of a band not trying to change the world but having fun playing music they love. Ain't nothing wrong with that!
(This first appeared in issue #71 of Shindig! magazine.)
Blackpool Tower of song. Ultimate Painting's Jack Cooper explores the emotional pull and push of home on his debut solo album. Duncan Fletcher listens in.
Jack Cooper's debut solo album Sandgrown is named in reference to a “Sand Grown 'Un”, the local term for someone from Blackpool. It explores the emotional pull and push of a place that ties and binds but that can also feel small and stifling. The album also has wistful, elegiac affection for a North that's been in managed decline since the 1980's, and a speaking up for marginalised and maligned communities. Key track 'Gynn Square', captures this perfectly.
“As a teenager I worked the deckchairs on Blackpool front,” says a jet-lagged Cooper, home after a short US tour with Ultimate Painting. “There were about 30 of us, all kids. We'd get taken out in a van each morning. Gynn Square was the furthest away and you'd have to get there on your own... It was kind of below the sea wall, a weird place... Sometimes people think of the north of England as backward but Blackpool was an incredibly liberal place – a lot of gay people, immigrants because it's a port town. I went to school with black people, Muslims, Hindus, it was a really multicultural place. I remember some drag queens from Funny Girls coming down, one just sat with me all day chatting, giving an insight into their world. But Blackpool also had a high proportion of heroin addicts. There'd be needles lying around and people shooting up behind the deckchair stack. You'd meet strange people and see things you didn't want to see. Scary people would talk to you and you'd feel out of your depth. Some places just have a sense of dread about them.”
The narrative is broken up by two instrumentals, 'Sandgrown Part One' and 'Part.Two', showcasing Cooper's sparse, but layered guitar work, something like Curtis Mayfield meets The Grateful Dead's Bob Weir. “That's exactly what I was going for along with the tremolo sound! I wanted it to be quite simple... I'm not fast enough to be a really good lead guitarist so I've tried to figure out my own style, kind of rhythm guitar with bits in.” The album was recorded on a Tascam 144, famously used by Bruce Springsteen on his Nebraska LP. “I'm no Springsteen fan but I've always liked the way Nebraska sounds. Wu-Tang Clan used a Tascam for 36 Chambers. That album sounds amazing! It has a kind of hazy fuzz to it. That's actually more of an inspiration sonically than Nebraska.”
For someone who has always worked collaboratively in bands, the question is why a solo record now? “I've always wanted to do, not like a song-cycle but a cohesive thing and I've always written about Blackpool, from that point of view. It would be odd to have done it within the band context just because it's so personal to me. With bands and collaborations sometimes things improve and sometimes things get diluted. This I wanted to be more of a singular vision... It's a solo album but because it has this overarching theme it's like one foot in the water of being a solo artist. It's not like 'these are my songs and these are my feelings on life'. This is just my feelings on one particular thing.”
(This review first appeared in issue #70 of Shindig! magazine.)
Duncan Fletcher talks with Neville Skelly whose label is spearheading the latest North-West musical renaissance.
Chess, Stax, Motown. All labels built on strong regional representation and deep family ties. Decades on since the inception of those powerhouse American labels, a small but dedicated team of music lovers on Merseyside are intent on building their own visionary dynasty. Skeleton Key Records is owned and run by velvet-voiced song-smith Neville Skelly and Coral main-man James Skelly. The Liverpool-based label's first release was a vinyl version of James' solo LP Love Undercover in 2013 made during Coral downtime.
“We both admired Labels like Elektra and A&M where the roster was eclectic and thought wouldn't it be great to do something like that where it's simply all about the music. We felt that at certain majors the accountants were running things so we thought we're the ones who eat, sleep and breathe music, we can either sit around moaning about how shit it is or do something about it, so we did!” says Neville when asked how the label came into being. “We run it between us and jointly decide what artists we want to sign. James produces the bands and I deal with everything connected to the releases along with bringing in the team to help promote the records.”
The family ties and talent are also evident in much of the accompanying artwork. Neville explains - “A lot of the artwork is done by Ian Skelly and his partner Anna Benson. They're so talented! Ian's done all the cover artwork for The Coral albums. So it was an easy call to make. We also encourage some of the bands to get involved with designing their own covers if they can.”
Skeleton Key's prolific string of releases include the street poetry/indie-pop mash-up of She Drew The Gun, the mixture of melody and metallic riffs made by Birmingham's Cut Glass Kings and the soulful fragile folk of Marvin Powell. Coral fans can't fail to have missed the mid-noughties “lost album” The Curse Of Love surfacing in 2014, it too bears the hallmark of quality that is the Skeleton Key logo.
Although Neville admits running a label has been a steep learning curve, 2017 has already borne two critically acclaimed LPs - Edgar Jones' The Song Of Day And Night and The Sundowners' Cut The Master. The label ethos of nurturing the artist and letting creativity find its course has certainly reaped rewards. Says Neville - “One of the reasons we set up the label is we felt bands weren't getting the opportunity to grow and develop so it's great to see Sundowners just getting better and better with each release. They are one of the best live bands in the country and it will be great to see them smashing it at Glastonbury and loads of other festivals this year.
With new music due soon from Serpent Power, Marvin Powell and all being well a new Neville Skelly LP for 2018, you get the feeling this is only the beginning. Oh and hopefully the ink will soon dry on a contract with hotly-tipped psych-folksters The Fernweh. That's one hell of a stable!
(This first appeared in issue #70 of Shindig! magazine.)
The missing link between Spike Jones, Joe Meek, Kraftwerk and Fat Boy Slim? Duncan Fletcher celebrates the life of Jean-Jacques Perrey - composer, entertainer, electronic revolutionary and self-described “passenger here on planet Earth.”
Jean-Jacques Perrey's life sadly ended in November last year but he leaves behind an indelible stamp on modern music. His classically trained musicality, love of entertaining and innovative studio and tape manipulation helped make a wealth of groundbreaking music. Quirky musical jokes, sci-fi eeriness, concrete sounds and dance-floor friendly grooves are all found in his work. The Beastie Boys, Fat Boy Slim, and even The Beatles have all been influenced by, or sampled his music. A pioneer of electronic music, he helped popularise the Moog synthesizer and his music still sounds fresh on TV adverts to this day.
Perrey was born Jean Leroy in Paris in November 1929 and grew up during World War Two, an experience that affected his outlook towards life as well as music. Perrey's daughter/manager Patricia explains - “He witnessed a lot of suffering. He grew pessimistic on mankind. This is possibly why he mostly wanted to make people happy. He considered it his mission in life to bring joy and happiness through his music. His biggest reward was when he saw people smile when they heard his music.”
(This review first appeared in issue #70 of Shindig! magazine.)
Stax / Ardent CD/LP
Though commercial success evaded them in their lifespan, Big Star's influence and legacy endure. It's difficult to see who this collection is aimed at (Big Star inspiring devotion rather than casual interest), but the music remains timeless. This Best Of is released as part of Stax's 60 years retrospective campaign and draws tracks from all three of the band's studio albums. Its USP is the inclusion of rare single versions/edits including 'September Gurls' and 'Watch The Sunrise'.
Like Van Gogh's sunflowers, their studio albums are a case study in beauty, decay and fragmentation but the sequencing here favours flow over chronology. It works. From the opening guitar chime of 'In The Street' through to the soft landing of 'Thank You Friends' there's no let up in quality. Brash odes to teenage awkwardness sit easily next to ragged and frail melancholia. Argue all you like over omissions but the music here shines as brightly as ever.
(This review first appeared in issue #69 of Shindig! magazine.)
Relampago-go LP
It's not often in the singles-centric garage rock scene that anyone attempts a concept album but that's what we have here. Over the album's song suite the story is told of Hilo, an everyman kind of character who falls on hard times and battles the forces of darkness while searching for love in the honky tonks of South Texas.
Along the way he encounters temptation, the seedy dark underbelly of American culture, bar-room philosophers and finally redemption. It's a cautionary tale but ultimately an uplifting one, a story with more twists, turns, ups and downs than a Texas tornado, all told over a soundtrack of rockabilly, surf-rock, Tex-Mex and preacher-style spoken word passages underscored with jazzy double-bass.
This newest pressing of Action Andy's 2013 LP comes on bright red vinyl and is expanded with a rockabilly version of The Seeds' 'Pushing Too Hard' which fits neatly in with the deep-fried American noir.
(This first appeared in issue #70 of Shindig! magazine.)
More simian adventures in sound! Cornelius returns after an eleven year gap. Duncan Fletcher steps in to the infinite cage with Japan's avant-electronica wizard.
In the Planet Of The Apes film from 1968 Dr. Cornelius is archaeologist and historian played by Roddy McDowell, an intelligent character with an open mind to new theories and possibilities regarding evolution. Cornelius is an apt choice of name then for a musician aiming to surprise, dazzle and entertain while taking music into new realms. Keigo Oyamada was born in Tokyo in 1969. Inspired by the original Planet Of The Apes trilogy, he chose the name Cornelius as his creative alter-ego for his solo musical projects that have made him a big name in Japan since the early '90s.
Inspired to pick up the guitar after hearing Black Sabbath - “The driving riffs were great for learning and playing guitar” he says, Oyamada first came to prominence in the Shibuya-kei music scene as a member of Flipper's Guitar who made fey guitar pop in the style of Aztec Camera. Oyamada says his favourite memories of those days were “recording at AIR Studios in London and hitting all the used record shops while in the UK.”
This crate-digging gives an insight as to where his music was heading next. After Flipper's Guitar folded, Oyamada adopted his new stage name and released a string of adventurous, genre-merging albums, including 1997's Fantasma, which gained him critical recognition overseas. It's been eleven years since his last full-length release (2006's Sensuous), though he's remained active - “I've been busy with many projects - recording and touring with Yoko Ono, supporting Yellow Magic Orchestra, and producing salyu x salyu. There's also been film music for Ghost In The Shell, a kids program called Design Ah, and a few more collaborations and projects.”
The wait for a new LP is over with the release of Mellow Waves. Fantasma's holy trinity of Beck, Bossa Nova and Brian Wilson has been replaced by one comprised of Terry Riley, Philip Glass, and Steve Reich. It's a subtler piece of work, more about textures than attention grabbing shape-shifting, and will appeal as much to chin-stroking Late Junction listeners as it will to pick 'n' mix pop fans. “Its a little more grown up or middle aged compared to my other works... Musically this one has more waves or strings of melodies compared to individual sound points being placed on a grid-like formation for song structure.”
Cornelius will be touring the new album throughout Japan including a high profile appearance at the Fuji Rock Festival - “This will be a new four-piece band with new members like Yumiko from Buffalo Daughter. Although we will not be completely reproducing the songs from the album, they are arranged in a simple yet musically demanding performance from the band.”
Despite approaching fifty, Cornelius' interest in new music shows no sign of diminishing, thanks in part to his son Milo working in a record shop - “He's now my main source for finding new bands like Mind Designer and Liss.”Having worked with many respected musicians over the last few years it seems there's still one dream collaboration he'd like to happen - “I would one day like to work with my son.”
Mellow Waves is out now on Rostrum Records.
(Click over the jump for the previously unpublished Q&A)
(This first appeared in issue #68 of Shindig! magazine.)
Duncan Fletcher finds magic on Merseyside with fragile folk's rising new star.
“I always think songwriting is like getting rid of noise in my head, I never write a physical song, I won't write it down... it's just in my head and I get it out there” explains Marvin Powell when asked about 'Salt', the title track of his debut EP. In person Powell is down to earth and affable, his personality seemingly at odds with the mysterious music he makes. It's pitched somewhere between Vashti Bunyan, Devendra Banhart, Nick Drake and his formative influences of Joni Mitchell and Neil Young, but with a sensitivity that's all Powell's own.
Take his song 'China Town' - “Four of us used to live in a big panoramic penthouse flat... from every view, every window there was an iconic Liverpool building - the bombed-out church, the Chinese arch, Paddy's Wigwam. That's where that song comes from, I'm looking down on this changing landscape of the city.” It's sublime songwriting, with Powell drawing parallels between the changing skyline, his inner emotions and the human condition in general.
Alongside the strong lyrics and ethereal vocals, he's also a skilled finger-style guitarist, albeit one to whom the guitar is a means to an end - “It was just something to do. I learnt by watching people. Kinesthetic, is that the word? ...I started writing songs when I learnt three chords... To me it's about the songs. I don't care about the guitar, well I do, but as long you can get your message across in the tunes. It's more about the lyrics and the poetry.”
Powell has honed his artistry playing Liverpool's coffee shops and open mic nights, along with being the “sacrificial folkie” at the city's venues, opening for local and touring bands. With a full length LP already recorded it may not be long before that running order is reversed.
(This review first appeared in issue #69 of Shindig! magazine.)
Fluff & Gravy CD/LP
Thirteen years since they formed as a student band these Portland, Oregon-based journeymen and women release their fourth and most satisfying album to date, interestingly without the aid of expensive studios and name producers. Okay, so they don't try and reinvent the wheel but they do keep it turning rather beautifully. This album's wheel conjures up desert highways, gentle breezes and the sun setting on a shimmering horizon. Their music is a sumptuous blend of cosmic Americana, Paisley Underground, and jangle 'n' harmony guitar pop.
Fittingly for an album that takes its name from a Donald Justice poem, there are themes of nostalgia, regret, stock taking, family and thankfulness for life's small mercies and everyday gifts. Add those to the rich layered guitars, pedal steel, four-way harmonies and genuinely catchy melodies and you have the sound of '70s FM radio remade as an aural security blanket. A sensual, soothing balm for the soul.
(This review first appeared in issue #70 of Shindig! magazine.)
Red Planet
Like Houghton's previous I Was There book on The Beatles, the premise is simple – collect as many first person recollections of being at the band's heyday gigs as possible. The 400-plus accounts here form some sort of consensus; ticket prices were cheap, the band were loud, getting alcohol wasn't always easy, there was plenty of Gustav Metzger's Auto-Destructive Art (or smashing stuff up if you prefer), and that Keith Moon was as unhinged as we're led to believe. That and the fact that as a live group they were unique and peerless.
Where Houghton's book works best is in painting a picture of the times, especially via the band's forays into the provinces. Be it market towns where cattle pens double up as scooter parking bays, rumbles between rival town gangs, secretaries getting dolled up on the commute home, or apprentices painting on the smell of soap, the fans experiences are at the heart of this book.
There are reminiscences from across The Who's 50-plus years but the book focuses heavily on the classic line-up, their early years slogging round the country, and the first few US tours. Most telling of all are the remembrances from promoters and local support bands which provide illuminating backstage detail, and the debunking (and sometimes confirming) of a fair few myths. Sadly, many of the venues have long since been demolished, but for those who were there, this book will bring the memories back and more. Those that weren't can get close by reading it.
(This first appeared in issue #68 of Shindig! magazine.)
How kitchen sink
realism met Broadway theatre, sparked a Grammy-winning evergreen and
inspired The Fabs. Duncan Fletcher investigates.
Ken Kesey's
counter-cultural bus trips in the sixties were inspired in part by
the Beat Generation writers of the previous decade. Jack Kerouac's On
The Road being perhaps the biggest influence. Over on the British
Isles, our own magical mystery tours and revolutions of the head had
their seeds in an altogether different literary style.
The Angry Young Men
and kitchen sink realists that had come to prominence in the late
fifties had ushered in a new age of anti-establishment literature and
film that gave a voice and confidence to post-war youth, especially
out in the provinces. Regional accents became accepted, fashionable
even. The northern working class were now represented in books, plays
and films. Shelagh Delaney's 1958 play, A Taste Of Honey, may
have been at the gentler end of this movement but with its themes of
class, race and sexuality it was still subversive enough to help
usher in new freedoms, and new ways of being and seeing... (Click over the jump to continue reading and for the specially compiled Spotify playlist.)
(This review first appeared in issue #69 of Shindig! magazine.)
Discos Templo LP + Extended CD
Spain in the late 1970s was a country coming to terms with its recent past, and unsure of its future. From Franco's death in 1975 through the road to democracy, unemployment was high and the streets often hosted riots, rubber bullets and police on horseback.
While British and American youth had punk to soundtrack their dissatisfaction, the young gypsy musicians of Madrid gigged their local bars playing traditional Rumbas, albeit with a similarly raw aggression, and a much superior virtuosity. But while Johnny Rotten sang of anarchy backed by a multinational corporation, records in Spain had to pass state censorship before release.
Acropol Records was a small label started in the mid '60s, that specialised in limited run 7” singles and cassettes by gypsy musicians from Madrid's shantytowns, the kind of musicians that larger labels simply would not record. This collection covers the years 1972 to 1983, and makes for a fascinating and revelatory listen.
(This review first appeared in issue #69 of Shindig! magazine.)
Relampago-go 7”
The long-serving Action Andy's latest band of sleazy rockers are based in San Diego, California and make garage rock that's infused with American roots music. Blues, garage, rockabilly, Tex-Mex and R&B all inform their latest four song EP. It's a lovely looking dinked 7” on marbled blue vinyl for those who like that kind of thing, and limited to 300 copies in a cartoon sleeve festooned with spiders, skulls and hot-rods.
Fortunately the music is an equally pleasing experience - 'Bleeding Heart' is a pounding '50s style rocker featuring distorted vocals, hand-claps and a lead biting lead guitar sound that could take your head off. 'Black Widow' is a sinister warning set to a hip-shaking R&B groove whereas 'Let's Buzz' is more of a surf/frat party track complete with a Dick Dale-esque solo from guitarist Xavier Anaya. Fans of The Jim Jones Revue, The Cramps and Jerry Lee Lewis can buy with confidence.
(This review first appeared in issue #69 of Shindig! magazine.)
The first two releases from this San Francisco garage-punk trio compensate for their lack of subtlety with speed, attitude and spirited enthusiasm. The eponymous debut has two tracks of '77 style melodic punk on the A-side - 'Good With Bad Habits' and 'Hot Ticket' both setting the scuzz factor high. The flip-side has two tracks featuring the band's more twangy, dark rockabilly side with plenty of Bigsby tremolo action on the guitar solo of 'Feeling Difficult' and some Scotty Moore-style moves on 'Party In The Sky'.
Follow-up The Trouble With Love EP contains a format-stretching five songs, the title track channelling early Kinks via both melody and the ripped speaker sound. Then a couple of short punky blasts before 'Snow Covered Dreams' with its folk-punk Nuggets feel. Also of note is the should-I-stay-or-go homesick love-letter to Georgia in 'San Francisco Is An Iceberg'. It won't change your life but is pretty good fun.
(This first appeared in issue #67 of Shindig! magazine.)
Three musicians, one static caravan and a 16-track portastudio. Mix together in the Snowdonian hills and see what happens. Duncan Fletcher finds out.
Though their sound has mutated since brothers Cynyr and Dion Hamer started making music as CaStLeS in 2008, an alchemy has been achieved by bringing in new member Calvin Thomas and swapping instrumental roles. The trio's brand of soft psych-pop can be heard on latest single 'Foresteering' which is taken from their similarly titled debut LP Fforesteering. It's an album full of charmingly melodic lo-fi delights.
There's something about the album's predominately Welsh language vocals that adds to the psychedelic appeal - “Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the Welsh language is so mysterious in some ways” muses Cynyr, “There are very few people that understand and speak the language, so maybe when people hear it they are drawn by the mysticism, which is what psychedelia does to you really.”
Like their previous 'PartDepart' EP, Fforesteering was recorded on a Zoom 16-track portastudio in a static caravan at Cynyr's home in the Snowdonian hills. “Most of the songs were written there as well,” says Dion, “and the surrounding wilderness is what inspired the concept of the songs for the EP and album, so in a way it's all been one big site-specific project, using the surroundings as a subject, it almost comes across as a human character at times.” Cynyr adds “I live in the caravan so it's very convenient to have a home studio where we can get straight into recording after arriving home from work. It's a cool place to record, being on top of a hill and having great views for inspiration.”
Though natural beauty inspires them, the shared joy in making music is equally important - “The concept of escapism can exist anywhere... you can pretty much find anywhere to get away from it all,” explains Calvin, “but music in itself is a way to escape.”
(This feature first appeared in issue #67 of Shindig! magazine. For the full unedited Q&A, click over the jump at the bottom of the post.)
The Wirral quintet come of age with new LP Cut The Master. Duncan Fletcher gets caught up in its lush majesty.
It's no surprise that an album as fully realised as Cut The Master results from deep, encyclopedic musical listening and a love of cult horror films. Though references are many, the band's sound is unique. Lead guitarist Alf Skelly explains their influences - “ I was listening to a lot of Rotary Connection, Radiohead and I've always been obsessed with Scott Walker, Axelrod, DJ Shadow. 'Great Beauty', the first track we recorded was inspired by the film The Great Beauty and Scott Walker's 'The Plague'. The whole album references a lot of music we love - Jane Weaver, Townes Van Zandt, Nancy Priddy, Wendy & Bonnie, Common People, Can, Christine Harwood, Martin Denny, United States of America, Mammas and Papas, The Yardbirds, Gainsbourg's Melody Nelson and an underrated band who have inspired us from the start - Shocking Blue.”
The heart of the record however lies in the dual female harmonies of Niamh Rowe and Fiona Skelly. Niamh expands on how two voices are better than one - “I really love Simon and Garfunkel's arrangements for harmonies, they're not obvious at all, I have no idea how Art thinks of them, they just weave so beautifully with each other. Another heartfelt pairing I love that is Emmylou and Dylan on Desire, she can sing with anyone and it will sound amazing but there's something so emotional and endearing of their voices together.”
Unlike their self-titled debut LP which was shaped by three years of touring, Cut The Master was written and arranged in the rehearsal room then recorded at Liverpool's Parr Street Studios. Alf is keen to recognise the input of elder brothers James and Ian (The Coral) - “We had taken the recordings as far as we could and James came in and breathed new life into it, he took out a lot of layers, back to how we'd do it live... James is a really great producer, he gets straight to the point, he works so well alongside Ian and Rich Turvey who both go above and beyond for us, we wouldn't be where we are without any of them.”
Finders Keepers supremo Andy Votel also co-produced a couple of tracks and provided short cinematic interludes between the tracks. Alf explains how their friendship developed after playing the Finders Keepers stage at Festival No.6 last year - “We got up and performed Can's Monster Movie with Malcolm Mooney who is the real deal. We'd rehearsed in Hoylake playing 'Mary, Mary So Contrary' and 'Yoo Doo Right' with him in our backward seaside town! He couldn't get his head around a bacon butty so he signed it for me haha! I still have it! It was one of the best gigs I've been involved in... Andy made the album for us, he brought the edge we wanted with his instrumentals, there's no plug-in or pedal that can do that. The way he is about music he's a one off - he told Niamh "I don't polish a turd, I turd a polish" which cracked us up! We're working on a few more bits with him this summer that we'll be announcing soon.”
Ex-Prisoners!
Medway's best kept secret return with their best album yet!
We've covered The
Galileo 7 before - the False Memory Lane LP from 2014 and most
recently the Live-O-Graphic Sessions LP from 2016. There was
also a storming 7” on State Records - 'One Lie At A Time', limited
to 500 copies. If you missed out on the 7” both its A and B-side
are included on this latest long-player.
Quick history lesson –
Allan Crockford is one of the architects and mainstays of the Medway
sound. A founding member of The Prisoners, JTQ, The SolarFlares and
The Prime Movers. (I won't go into too much detail, you have Google
don't ya?!) Anyway, he's never one to rest on any laurels as latest
band The Galileo 7's run of releases shows. It's shaping into a body
of work that easily matches the output of his previous bands.
While False Memory
Lane played to that line-up's psychedelic strengths, this latest
effort sees them go for a more driving freakbeat sound, aided in no
small measure by the addition of drummer Mole, a man who plays like
he's aided by any number of exhilarants. Though it's more likely
sheer talent and ability! He can be heard on the bands previous LP,
the “nearly live” Live-O-Graphic Sessions.
It's that strain of up-beat mod-rock stomp that's continued into the
the band's latest effort Tear Your Minds Wide Open! which is available now on good old vinyl on Damaged Goods Records.
Fans
of The Move, The Small Faces, The Who, Blossom Toes, The Creation,
The Fleurs de Lys and the like will find much to love here. It's that
mod-into-psych sound of 1966 but made now! Crunchy and crashing
guitar chords, genuinely memorable melodic songwriting bolstered by
organ chords and a truly special rhythm section. Crockford's knack of
songwriting shows no sign of diminishing either, he still turns out
cracking songs.
I'm
a little late to the party with this one, the album came out late
last year and quickly sold out its initial vinyl pressing. Thankfully
there's a second pressing so you should be able to track down a copy.
Go on, you won't be disappointed.
From the margins of south-east of England. The first great album of 2018.
It's rare these days to
discover an album that when listened to, doesn't divulge who the band
have been listening to. And that dear readers is often the sign that
you're onto something good. The Cold Spells' eponymous debut is not
without predessessors – there are similarities with both Robert
Wyatt and Shirley Collins both in the simple song structures and the
unadorned straightly delivered vocals. But importantly The Cold
Spells are not aping or mimicing. And here lies just one of the
album's strengths.
So what does it sound
like? Well there's the afore-mentioned simple folk-song tunes, gentle
electronic backing with snatches of static, white noise, occasional
backwards vocals drifting in and out. The organic meeting the
technological. An intoxicating sound alone but strong poetical lyrics
and stories will pull you in further.
It's an album that
speaks of and to the lost, lonely and marginalised. To people on the
forgotten edges of society, the dispossed, those away from
metropolitan glamour. Empathatic stories that touch on delusional
paranoia, quiet haunted lives and familial traits that echo through
the ages. Mixed in with eulogies, a little folklore, and even a song
about drowning. Modern, yet mysterious. The aural equivalent of a
hillside containing a chalked white horse and a mulititude of mobile
phone masts.
There are plenty of
arch, all-too-knowing bands (and labels) that release referential,
hauntological music that's often little more than a stylistic
pastiche. The Cold Spells has lyrical depth however, and has a
timeless quality in it's melodies. Sure you could place it under
banner of folktronica given the gentle ambient instrumentation but
it's an album that won't date. It's not trying desperately to sound
like it's 2018, 1972, or even 1872. It sounds both modern and
peculiarly ancient. I guarantee it will sound similarly undated and
timeless in years to come.
Apparently it took 4
years to make the album so they may not be bringing out another
anytime soon or maybe even ever, which would be a shame. Hopefully
The Cold Spells' LP will get the recognition it deserves in the here
and now rather than drift off into obscurity. If it doesn't then I'm
in no doubt that in 20 years time it will be hailed as something of a
lost classic.
