Papernut Cambridge - Channel Suite

Humour, emotion, introspection, music biz musings, and a ton of good tunes. Could this be the finest Papernut Cambridge album yet?

 

There’s a track on Papernut Cambridge’s latest album with lyrics that are basically a list of home recording tips. It reminds me of The Timelords’ (KLF) seminal book The Manual (How To Have A Number One The Easy Way). While The Manual focussed on artistic approach and finances, Papernut Cambridge’s song ‘Grimston Green Hustle’ zones in on how to achieve a strong coherent sound while making an album – volume levels, limiting, EQ, gain, continuity of sound, mastering, reducing “s” and “t” sounds, track sequencing, keeping happy accidents. It’s invaluable, demystifying advice.

“The Cambridge” has had a changing line-up over its ten-year existence. For this album it’s something of an all-star affair which includes Robert Rotifer, Robert Halcrow, Darren Hayman, Jack Hayter, and of course bandleader/vocalist Ian Button. Not only does band leader Ian Button possess the know-how of navigating a studio, but he also puts it to good use. Channel Suite was released on New Year’s Day and is packed with songs that in a justful world would be clogging up the charts and radio playlists. While the modern world may not always be fair and just, it does allow us to access a wealth of music on a physical format or streaming service of our choosing. With that in mind I urge you to check out Channel Suite. You’ll be in for a treat.

The record kicks off with ‘End of The Downs’, a heartfelt homage to the landscape and countryside near Button’s Folkestone base. Soft wind chimes give way to strident superpop not heard since the likes of Edison Lighthouse were regulars on Top Of The Pops. The track’s joy and optimism are rendered via an uplifting melody and series of key changes. ‘La Cucina’ is a similarly upbeat paean to the joys and trials of creativity. Ostensibly about cooking, it’s really about any creative endeavour, and addresses the rewards along with the constant re-evaluation and dedication they require.

There’s an opportunity to learn something here too - ‘Cassiopeia’ is about the star constellation in the northern sky named after vain queen Cassiopeia, mother of Andromeda, in Greek mythology, who boasted about her unrivalled beauty. (Yes, I did need to look that up on Wikipedia!)

My current favourite song on the album, however, is ‘Trip to America’. Such a journey, (undertaken for pleasure as opposed to business Button tells us in its lyrics), should be a joyful, exciting prospect, but here it’s sung about with a tinge of melancholia. Why that should be we don’t find out, but it’s this unexplained mystery that gives the song its strange power. “I can’t go there now wide-eyed like I did before” sings Button. Maybe it’s about loss of innocence, or loss of wonder. Whatever its subject matter, the song is curiously beguiling.

There are plenty more songs jostling for top spot though - ‘Chez Pascal’ showcases Button knack for sketching out characters. It’s a side of his writing that was given full flight on the recent Toni Tubna album. ‘Cobwebs’ is The Modern Lovers taking a drum machine for a short rejuvenating trip to the sea front. Then there’s ‘Jump in Your Heart’ – the closing catchy pop number complete with whistling. That song alone is enough to put a smile on your face and a spring in your step.

Pop music – just when you think it’s burnt itself out and can no longer inspire or move you, a record comes along to reaffirm your faith in its powers. Channel Suite is one such record. Humour, emotion, meta-music biz musings, atmospherics, some sadness, some introspection, and a ton of bloody good tunes. It may well be the finest Papernut Cambridge album yet.

 

For this release Papernut Cambridge are... 

Ian Button - vocals, guitar, bass, programming, percussion
Robert Halcrow - bass, baritone horn
Robert Rotifer - guitar, backing vocals
Darren Hayman - electric piano, synths, percussion
Jack Hayter - viola

 

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Toni Tubna with The Stockholm Tuba Sect - When The Magic Went Wrong

Alter egos and warped tales. Papernut Cambridge leader gets conceptual.

If the mention of concept albums makes you think of long-haired, serious-minded musicians and gatefold LPs featuring sleeve art by Roger Dean, then you're living in the '70s man. Time for a re-think as the concept album is alive and well. Papernut Cambridge's Ian Button has recently released this fine album featuring a set of songs about fictional magician Toni Tubna. (Anagram fans will no doubt work out how Ian arrived at the character's name.)

It all goes back to a running joke that Ian shared with bandmates in The Catenary Wires, about him having a past life as a magician. Over time and and a series of emails back and forth Ian wrote a number of short stories about his spell as a conjuror. Whether that spell was real or imagined matters not as the resulting songs are sure to put a smile on your face.

They're now available on a CD which comes with a mini book containing the stories. Alongside these stories are illustrations by Fay Hallam. All in all quite an immersive multi-format package, one that evokes warped nostalgia and faded seaside glamour – think summer seasons, end of the pier variety shows, old music hall tunes, and that fondness for eccentrics and doomed endeavours that's somehow ingrained in the English psyche.

Anyone familiar with the mighty Papernut Cambridge will know they're in safe hands. Button's melodic and vocal gifts are showcased over a variety of musical styles, be it 'The New Assistant' with its tango feel, or 'The Painting' which comes across as a melancholic English folk song. It's the stories that drive the album however. Be prepared for tales of dubious morals, seedy undertakings, a smidgeon of Shakespeare and encounters with a whole host of supporting characters including, bizarrely, the mayor of Bridlington.

Give it a go, there's nothing else quite like it around at the moment. As Tubna/Button sings on the album's opening and closing songs “It probably never even happened”. Possibly not, but imagining that it did is entertainment enough.

 

 

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Papernut Cambridge - Nutlets II 1978-2001

A second volume of covers. Revelations, re-evaluations, and really good left-of-centre pop!

If there's such a thing a a regular reader of this humble blog, they'll be aware that Papernut Cambridge are a big favourite round at our house. And a productive lot they are too. Take their self-penned albums which brim over with warmth and intelligence, or the library music inspired instrumental albums, Mellotron Phase Volumes I & II. There's enough discs there to keep you happy should you ever find yourself on a on a desert island with said records and a record player. If that's not enough for you, you are obviously too fussy and demanding, but fear not, there's always Nutlets 1967-80 which they released in 2015. It's an album of cover versions giving an insight to the band's roots and musical loves. Featuring big melodic hits from the tail-end of the '60s to the beginning of the Thatcher years, it remains a celebration of pop's age of innocence that's sure to please even the most jaded sets of ears.

The good news is they're set to release a follow-up this week. Nutlets II 1978-2001 takes up roughly where Volume I left off. Beginning in the post-punk era what binds all the choices together is not genre but a certain subversive spirit, music that's slightly left-of-centre, says something lyrically, but still adheres to the notion that pop should be fun, and should at very least move you emotionally or physically. Or preferably both.

A lot of the songs you'll be aware of, some perhaps you won't. Some may be your own personal favourites, others may be new to you. You may be indifferent to some of the originals but hearing these covered versions in the context of this collection might give you fresh insight and have you e-evaluating your opinions. The collection draws from the well of post-punk, C86, electro, left-field guitar pop and college rock. Rather then try and re-invent the songs or give them a makeover, the band have pretty much kept to the tempos and styles of the originals, which is refreshing when you've been let down in past by one too many free CDs from Mojo magazine, and they're all imbued with Papernut's inimitable passion.

So what songs to they cover? There's the full tracklisting below but if you'd indulge me for a short while I'll break just a few of the songs down into three highly personalised sections - Really good pop, (songs that I personally know and love), re-evaluations, (stuff I glossed over first time round), and revelations (songs that are new to me).

Really good pop - Who can resist the perfect pop of 'Getting Nowhere Fast' by Girls At Our Best? Ditto Primal Scream's 'Velocity Girl', a dark song wrapped in the sunniest of melodies. Then there's Suede's 'Metal Mickey', a song that pre-dated the onslaught of Britpop and was in hindsight better than all of it. My favourite from this section is Daft Punk's 'Digital Love'. I loved this track from the very first time I heard it, it's instrumentally audacious, catchy, and really great fun.

Re-evaluations – Big Audio Dynamite's 'Medicine Show' scores big here. I kind of passed them over at the time. Something to do with the basic proto sampling, guitars without headstocks, and long coats. I admit now I was wrong and always enjoy hearing them on the radio, all the more so after having heard Papaernut Cambridge cover them here with such brio. Similarly the cover of New Order's 'Bizarre Love Triangle' has sparked a renewed interest in the Mancunian synth-pop band.

Revelations – Topping the list in this section is 'Boil In The Bag Man', a superb song originally by Adam and The Ants, which takes a swipe at the-man-on-the-street. This and covers of songs by Josef K, Psychedelic Furs, ESG and The Only Ones means this album is, for me, as rich in discovery as it is in discs of a more desert island nature. Everything this band has released is highly recommended and this set of covers is no exception. Dive in!

Available on 2LP vinyl or CD.

Full Tracklisting -
WE LOVE YOU (The Psychedelic Furs)
BOIL IN THE BAG MAN (Adam and The Ants)
DID YOU SEE HER (Pink Military)
SPLITTING IN 2 (Alternative TV)
PUBLIC IMAGE (Public Image Ltd)
STARS ARE STARS (Echo and The Bunnymen)
UNITED (Throbbing Gristle)
GETTING NOWHERE FAST (Girls At Our Best)
YOU'RE NO GOOD (ESG)
DEADLY NIGHTSHADE (The Only Ones)
CHANCE MEETING (Josef K)
IN A NUTSHELL (Orange Juice)
VELOCITY GIRL (Primal Scream)
BIZARRE LOVE TRIANGLE (New Order)
MEDICINE SHOW (Big Audio Dynamite)
SHAMPOO TEARS (Win)
THE KILLING JAR (Siouxsie and The Banshees)
METAL MICKEY (Suede)
STEAL MY SUNSHINE (Len)
DIGITAL LOVE (Daft Punk)

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Deep Cut - Different Planet

Long-awaited third album! A superb distillation of psychedelic rock, dream-pop and indie!

I have to admit I've only recently become aware of Deep Cut despite this being their third album, but my interest is more than piqued! A quick history - the band formed in 2006 since when they've put out a couple of long-players – the excellently-titled My Thoughts Light Fires (2009) and Disorientation (2011). The band's main songwriters are Mat Flint (ex-Revolver) and Emma Bailey. Mat's brother Simon plays bass and Ian Button (Death In Vegas, Papernut Cambridge) is on the drums. After an extended break the band are back with a new album. Different Planet came out a couple of weeks ago on the Gare du Nord label.

I've had the album as soundtrack for my commute to and from work on these recent cold dark days and it's helped keep any seasonal affective disorder at bay. The band's influences are many, easy to detect and proudly worn on their sleeves so to speak. There are traces of The Byrds, Velvet Underground, Cocteau Twins, early Primal Scream, House Of Love, Phil Spector, Sarah Records, Lush, Motown and The Jesus And Mary Chain. But as we all know influences are only half the story, it's how they're mixed and presented that matters. Different Planet contains ten tracks that are catchy, infectious, energetic and engaging.

Take their track 'No' which opens the album. Cheeky little steals from either The Byrds 'Eight Miles High' or Coltrane's 'A Love Supreme', and the VU's 'I Can't Stand It' underpinned by pounding beats, jangling guitars before building into a wall of noise containing riffing guitars, handclaps, and those awesome boy/girl harmonies.

If you want to pigeonhole the record Indie, Dreampop or Shoegaze would be most apt given the shimmering textures and effect-driven sounds that permeate the album, though categorisation is only half the story. What really impresses is the distillation of influences, bold production and strong songs. Neat work indeed.

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Papernut Cambridge - Mellotron Phase: Volume 2

Retro-to-go! A second volume of library music from Ian Button & co!

It's impossible not to love Papernut Cambridge. Already this year they've released the fantastic album Outstairs Instairs, and now this, a follow-up to 2017's Mellotron Phase: Volume 1. For anyone unfamiliar with those two albums here's the crack – Outstairs Instairs is a song-based album rich in sentiment, intelligence and lyrical ideas and allows the collective's many talented musicians to shine. Mellotron Phase: Volume 1 is a 10” vinyl LP featuring library-music inspired instrumental pieces with sounds sourced from original Mellotron tapes. At times the music is funny, sad, moving, intriguing, cheesy, evocative, wry, uplifting and much more. And now we have a volume 2!

Released by head-Papernut Ian Button's Gare Du Nord label in conjunction with boutique library music company Ravenwood, this album is as authentic as it gets. As stated on the sleeve - “Apart from the drums, bass guitar and some light percussion all the instrument sounds you hear on this record were made originally by a Mellotron or one of its contemporary tape/disc-based playback instruments. The sounds were picked from Gforce's M-Tron Pro tape libraries... Throughout, the original unedited mono patches were used to preserve the tone and functionality of the original instruments.”

Library music remains as highly prized among collectors as ever and continues to inspire today's musicians. It's not difficult to see why. It allows them to step outside of traditional band-based collaborations and draw upon a different set of influences – foreign pop and folk, soundtracks, new age music,TV themes, light entertainment orchestras, military bands. Literally anything goes. The track titles on Mellotron Phase: Volume 2 are evocative in themselves – for example 'Cha-Cha-Charlie', 'Cygnus Probe', 'Boss Club' and 'Sergeant Major Mushrooms'. My own personal favourite being 'A Cowboy In Montmartre'. Each piece is its own mini film score delivered with wit, verve and a whole lot of musical ability. For all the melodic and stylistic variation, the sonic restrictions lend the album a continuity of sound which holds the whole thing together in a most delightful and satisfying way.

Like its predecessor Volume 2 is released on 10” vinyl. There is also a CD version which collates both volumes. Buy with confidence, you will love this record.

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