Abi Rhodes' Zigzag Wanderings

Please Take Your Cash

Antiproduct: Please Take Your Cash

http://www.antiproduct.com/

http://www.myspace.com/antiproduct

Antiproduct was one of the earliest bands whose 2003 antiproduct  Made in USA I got to review back in the old CCNEWZ days when I first started out.

I liked 'em then and I like 'em now. They bill themselves as a glam/punk /comedy act and I guess this pretty well sums them up. But the main thing to realise is that they're not casual in their approach to their music as the moniker might suggest. They are - whether they like it or not - consummate professionals, calculating pretty well every move they make - notwithstanding the odd cancelled event for which they always apologise contritely and ebulliantly - and quite right too!

The current album which is produced and distributed entirely through their fan network, concerts, myspace etc ie avoiding all contact with the record industry as it once was and increasingly fails to be, has apparently outsold any of their previous output even though The man had his dirty paws involved there and then. This I think speaks for itself and shouts volumes about the commitment and backbreaking input Antiproduct are willing to invest in their music for the benefit of us - their public.

The album is full of their time-approved fun-for-all-the-family good-time exhuberance. They audaciously cover Brian Wilson's 'Good Vibrations' more than acceptably[probably not actually topping the original I have to admit!]; otherwise all the numbers are penned by Alex Kane aka A. Product himself. The style and content, as I say, pretty well all fit into the glam-punk bag - take such names as Jonathan Richman, TheFlaming Groovies and The Ramones - evenDavid Bowie, Roxy Music and The Sweet - as rough pointers to the area I'm talking about - but at the same time they  freely meander along various branches of the metal and related family trees to vary the feel and pace of the music.

They are the present day inheritors of the mantle laid down by the likes of Kassenetz-Katz with bubblegum style of garage music some 40-odd [and I mean very odd] years ago. All I can say is long may their beacon burn in the fermament and hope that they leave a legacy to be enthusiastically built on by ensuing generations of fun-loving pretention-busters.

Sellafield-Annoys

The basement of  The Greenhouse Effect provides, in my humble opinion, probably the best venue for good music in Brighton [although it's in Hove, actually]. This somewhat highly contentiouus statement needs some justification I suppose, so here's why I think it's true.

1. It's underground, man
2. It's got a rock'n'roll ambience - red paint, dim & dingy lighting, uncluttered by furniture
3. It is totally unpretentious - in fact sophistication and razzamatazz are strictly off the menu
4. It's of such a size that even a small number of audients make the place look lively even full
5. It doesn't stink  [The Engine Room please take note!]

It's at its zentith, I think, when it "stages" [it has no stage] on a show promoted by The Real Music Club [name intended to be ironic rather than moronic, I believe] whichspecialises in presenting what used to be referred to as underground rock of the late 60s/ early 70s-type arty, spacy, jazz, blues and folk fusion kind. In other words music for us old pharts at play.

One such happening occurred on Saturday 21st November 2009 when the bill consisted of ..

Sadly, I arrived too late to see Dirty Scavenger  strut their funky stuff, but I was assured by reliable people I spoke to that they were well worth not missing. I'll do my utmost to find out about them sometime in the near future.

Paradise 9 were billed as the headliners but I believe that untypical late arrivals in the Kyngs camp led to P9 being next up.  Tonight's First XI consisted GreggMcKella -/vox,guitat/gliss/clarinet/fx/ mosquito repellant machine, Carl Sampson- drums, Neil Matthars- bass,  Tyrone Thomas- lead guitar & Steve Teers - djembe/keyboards/backing vox and the band was supplemented on various tracks by the evening's sound man Xanthus on keyboards/Synths and "Jackie" on djembe. They played a selection from their record releases - album 'Showtime' and the new 'Nothing for Tomorrow' EP, for this evenings performance was ostensibly the Brighton launch party. 

As per usual, Neil & Carl in the engine room lay down a tight driving framework for the otheres to hang their talents on - it's great to see 2 guys playing together so well but so obviously enjoying trading licks and riffs as these two do. No rock attitude here - just good old fashioned hard work providing job satisfaction to its paracticioners.

Greggo delivered his alternately sci-fi trip outs and socio-political commentaries with the usual dry wit and verve one has come to expect from him and Steve  Teers provided his high energy vocal keyboard and djembe support with gusto. Tyrone almost dissapears into the background until one realises there's powerful guitar back-up coming from somewhere, you look around and .. hey.. there he is lurking in a dark corner grinding the mill that is his magic moody music maker.

The thoroughly faultless performance was especially noteworthy by the extended version of 'Into the Ethers' which coincided [accidently or otherwise] with a phase of the lightshow that transported one back into the sort of ammbience one thinks of in connection with those heady Munich Baader-Meinhof charged days of Amon Duul II . It was almost uncanny.... but really all in the mind!

Sumerian Kyngs came on to an even bigger audience than Paradise 9 [although it was noticeable how the audience changed its constituents markedly from band to band - only a hard core of us music lovers staying course of the evening].

Last time I saw this band I think they were in the turmoil of some traumatic personel changes and perhaps did not perform up to the expectation of earlier appearances I'd witnessed by them. But tonight I was pleasantly surprised - nay, delighted - by the way they seem to have pulled it back together.

They are one of those bands that's almost impossible to categorise in that they have a totally unique sound. They label themselves as psychedelic /alternative/ jazz on myspace   and I suppose that'll have to do - although various other epithets come to mind including swamp/fusion/blues and more.

They are somewhat dominated by the presence [or otherwise] of lanky Ross Clifford, the vocalist extraordinaire. He struts [and sometimes sounds] like JimMorrison  in poet-iconoclast mode,  elsewhen he might be a Tom Waits type figurine. Anyway, he always demands attention - even when he's offstage, one wonders when and where from he'll appear next.

The support comes from all directions witha mightily varied and unusual range of instrumentation and additional voices. It's unfair to pick out one above another but when one reports that the line up includes Saxophone, mouth organ and accordion with which the musical background can be varied among its ranks, one can begin to see the width of spectrum  of possibilities here!

This really was an evening to be remembered and is just about the best night out I've had for years. It really did begin to restore my faith in music. If anyone wants a life affirming experience look out to see what The Real Music Club havs to offer in the near future and especially watch out for the next time that Paradise 9 and the Sumerian Kyngs feature on the same bill.
 

Give this one as a Christmas Present

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain: Live in London 2

http://www.myspace.com/ukuleleorchestra

Having seen an amusing item about the Ukes on Brighton Beach on BBC South Today local TV News,I believe that the UOGB was the very first band I ever approached requesting an album for review. that was a big step for me - I wasn't sure if I could be so cheeky. Luckily for me they responded positively and I was able to provide one of my earliest efforts to the sadly missed defunct CCNewz.

I've just done it again - sent an email requesting this, their latest offering and am pleased to say they've responded in exactly the same way. In fact I'm over the moon, because this album is an absolute corker!

The thing about the Ukes is that they're not just a comedy act doing funny versions of popular tunes on the ukelele - what a jolly good wheeze.

No! They are consummate musicians with an amazingly catholic taste in music, paying homage to the best work by world's top artists in every imaginable genre, and proving that the ukelele is a valid musical instrument into the bargain.

This latest collection covers a multitude of Western musical styles as diverse as rock'n'roll, space rock, trad jazz, stage musical, film soundtrack and punk.

My particular favourites are the incredible reproduction of the opening sultry desertscape of 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly' and that icon of Blaxploitation the 'Theme from Shaft'. But this is purely subjective - being an indicator of my particular musical tastes. Every single track is a masterpiece - from a rendition of Hawkwind's 'Silver Machine' through Leonard Bernstein's 'America' from 'West Side Story' to Splodgeness Abounds' 'Two Pints of Lager.'

In case anyone has never been to a UOGB gig [which I urge you to do], this recording proves they are masters of their instruments in the live setting - not just in the studio.

The album is so good, in fact, that I want to recommend it as this year's Christmas present to all your music loving friends. Even a few Philistines might be turned onto our favourite pastime by this one!

 

Amy's Ghost of a Chance

Amy's Ghost

Single: Lullaby +  Warning[remix]/Turn to Run [acoustic live]

http://www.myspace.com/amysghost

I blogged enthusiastically about Amy's Ghost's appearance at Brighton Live Festival a week or so ago. You may remember I was quite exercised by the quality of their  performance.

I'm thrilled to be able to tell you Amy has kindly sent me the band's single and that I'm no less impressed by their recorded material than their stage presence.

"Lullaby" is a poppy workout somewhat in that post-rock style purveyed by the likes of Evanescence, and lays out their stall admirably by briefly signposting all the band members' individual talents in turn - percussion, keyboards, Amy's remarkable vocals and then cello right from the word 'Go'.

It is quite good enough as a song to chart if the band should be lucky enough to be picked up by a major music paper or featured widely enough on the radio. This is, of course, a big 'if' but that's the nature of today's music scene. There's so much good talent producing brilliant music, while the Biz looks the other way in search of pretty boy/girl bands who are willing to don the fashions being pushed by the market of the day and be exploited for all they're worth for the a few months, then dropped when the next trend comes along.

I'm sure Amy's Ghost wouldn't fit into this category of band even if they wanted to be exposed in this way - they are far too individual a sound and would not be malleable enough for the manipulators. No, I think they're going to make it by hard graft - and I feel this single sets them off on the right path.

Interestingly, if anything, the 'B-sides' [or whatever they're called these days] of 'Lullaby' could prove even more important in pointing up their unusual talents as a band. 'Warning' is almost an a capella performance for Amy, but with instrumentation added as a supplement to provide a dramatic setting for her voice. The cello is particularly haunting - it almost sounds like a bit from Steve Reich's minimalistic masterpiece 'Different Trains'. 'Turn to Run' provides the same function - this time turning the focus in the direction of the very high quality percussionist in the band.

I must repeat that I'm extremely impressed by this opening offering from the band. It would be a great thing if they had some success in the near future. This can be hastened by you, dear reader. Just check out their myspace page and listen to the tunes on their player, then tell your friends about it. If you're anywhere near Reading [that's pronounced 'Redding', for our friends across the pond!] you might get along to 'The Global' on November 6th for the Single's Launch Party. Otherwise watch the page for details of how it's being marketed.

Go On Punk - Make My Day... by making 'Lullaby' a great big phat hit!

The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other

I have been trying to reply to a Gavin Wilson who wrote a review of Van der Graaf Generator's first proper album "The Least..." on the Amazon website back in 2001.

Amazon won't let me post as I've never bouight from them using this name! How petty can they get?

Anyway this is what he said...

4.0 out of 5 stars The first proper VdGG album, but who were Mike and Susie?,

 August 22, 2001 By Gavin Wilson

 - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

 

While most rock songs concerned themselves with the business of getting off with girls, Peter Hammill had other things on his mind: you don't get lines like "Malleus Maleficarum slaughtered and tortured" in your average rock lyric.

This album portrays Hammill's vision of some sort of occult-related nuclear apocalypse.

 This band was so underground they were molten -- without being magma, of course ;-)

I feel that liking this album is going to be a tough assignment for newcomers.

I've known Van Der Graaf for 28 years, and this album for a week. I love the albums I knew in my youth -- particularly GODBLUFF, STILL LIFE and PAWN HEARTS -- but, at the age of 42, I struggle to digest new VdGG discoveries.

As always with VdGG albums, this one improves with each hearing. After about my fourth hearing, I was so disillusioned that I was all prepared to write a short of essay entitled, 'Whatever was the point in progressive music?', focussing on the assertion that teenagers and students in the early 70s had less money but less choice of leisure products -- no video, no Nintendo, and in the UK at least, no all-day TV.

 But after several more auditions, I believe this album stacks up well (without being quite so excellent) as the other three I named.

 

All the VdGG ingredients are here, fully-formed -- even the fledgling special effects. (I would imagine Hammill is quite embarrassed today about the dalek voice borrowed from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop used to sing the 'total annihilation' lyric in 'After the Flood'.) As other reviewers have said, this album owes something to IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING; there are also very faint echoes of the acoustic guitar style of Bowie's SPACE ODDITY and Jethro Tull's flute.

Despite the fact that 'Refugees' from this album was VdGG's biggest UK single (no less than #47 in the hit parade!), I wouldn't recommend this as the first port of call for a VdGG newcomer -- possibly STILL LIFE and the remastered collection in INTRODUCTION are the best starting points.

 Provided you give them enough time, you'll soon find that buying VdGG albums becomes addictive. And you'll end up buying this one, even if it takes 28 years.

And maybe you'll be able to help me understand the line 'West is Mike and Susie'.

In the hope that Gavin comes across this or someone who reads this can direct him this way, here is my response...

A good review but having been a fan of this album since 1970, I think you have a long way to go in its appreciation.

Your comments on VdGG lyrics being so different are spot on and while I understand your placing of 'Still Life' and 'Pawn Hearts' as being so important in terms of music and the pinnacle of the prog rock cannon,  'The Least...' takes its place in my all time favourites LP list alongside Neil Young's 'Everybody Kows this is Nowhere', David Crosby's 'If Only I could Remember My Name' as my Top 3.

The Mike and Susie Question remains a mystery to me but I like it that way - this is not  science - it's a spiritual song - about the soul - and the mystery of life and death is central to that.

 I always releated 'Refugees' to the scenes at the end of Lord of the Rings when the Elves take their voyage from the Grey Havens 'into the West' carrying Bilbo along with them - this is a portayal of death to me that says it all - I am not religious but very much hope there is something which we experience in death which sums it all up. Even if there is nothing beyond that.  

Although I doubt this will be so, I live in hope!

Keep listening, Gavin, to this wonderful album - I've never tired of it - always finding more in it than I've noticed before - I DO love the 'Annihilation' bit in 'After The Flood' - but I love really Heavy Metal sounds too.

 Prog Rock has never been the same since the demise of VdGG - they were Kings of the Artform at their best.

Sadly recent releases have been somewhat disappointing - that must be largely due to the absence of JaxonSax - a manwho has no parallel in rock music and is sadly missed

best wishes

Abi Rhodes

www.abi-rhodes.typepad.com

2 cellos, a harp & a bassoon

There's always some joy to be had from bands who step outside the boringly defined guitar, bass and drums format in popular music and my trip out last night to see what this year's Brighton Live Festival had on offer proved that point conclusively.

For those of you not in the know, Brighton Live is an annual series of free events, staged by the otherwise fairly unremarkable local radio station JuiceFM. It cunningly coincides with Freshers' Week for the 2 local universities [Sussex & Brighton]  to help poor unsuspecting students new to the fleshpots of  the city [I still hate that term when applied to our little ol' town] relieve themselves of the big fat grants and parental supplements before theyget the chance to sit back and think about budgeting and spending them on something more appropriate like their rent, course books and some real  food.

Despite the target audience being so young and generally unsophisticated and indiscriminate in most things musical, the quality of gigs in this festival is, generally, surprisingly good - I base this judgement on 3 years experience dipping into its delights. Brighton's huge music scene is of very high quality anyway and bands with a bit of nous know that  a bit of unpaid exposure at this juncture will pay dividends later.

My main purpose for picking this particular evening for a scout round was to catch the latest stage in the progress of my friends The Adventurists aka Sam Walker and Daniel Clark. Information about exact programme times for gigs in Brighton Live is pretty poor - I suppose this is the pay-off for a free fest - they can't afford much promotion - so it's quite difficult to find out who's appearing where and at what time.

I knew my boys were due to appear at The Latest Music Bar [more popularly known as Joogleberry's] in Manchester Street, Kemp Town, sometime after 9, so once I found out more precise information by enquiry at the bar itself, I calculated I had an hour to spare and headed off around to Audio in the next street to see if anything was happening there.

Happily I found a gig in progress there and arrived part way through a set by a band I discovered to be called Amy's Ghost . They have an interesting line up consisting of Amy [not her ghost, I believe], a Wendy James [Transvision Vamp]-like vocalist with a very interesting voice who occasionally supplements it using a megaphone[!], a cello and a red-hot drummer. [I've often commented that a good drummer is essential to a new band if they are to get noticed - it will cover up a lot of teething troubles and leave the audient with a good impression of a developing new act. This is certainly true for Amy's Ghost. Not that they displayed too many faults - my main criticisms would largely stem from the inadequacies of lower priced technology found at these events] ].

I anticipated them using the generally useless epithets 'alternative', 'indy' and 'other' in their MySpace description of themselves, but on checking was pleased to find they had ditched at least 2 of these - using the more enigmatic and intriguing "FeminineTribal Leftfield Indie!"

So what did they sound like? Well - they were clearly of the generation very much influenced by the likes of Radiohead, but for my more jaded pallet I was pleased to find them to be of a more edgy ilk, somewhat heavier, maybe in the style of Evanescence, and was delighted particularly by their closing quite experimental number which drifted perilously close to the Space Rock beloved by followers of Hawkwind.

This was an extremely pleasing start to the evening. In fact, if I'd had to go home at this juncture I should have felt I'd had a good night out and discovered a great new band. I eagerly look forward to their upcoming single release in the hope that it's well produced and gives at least a flavour of the ambience I felt part of at this great performance.

But no, I felt ready for further frenetic action so returned to Joogleberry's for the next dose.  The acts at this gig all hailed from the OneTaste Collective and first up was Cate Ferris .

Cate is a singer-songwriter with a fine voice and varied vocal techniques which add a lot of character to her fairly ordinary songs. I felt that the whole performance could have been more interesting musically if she chose to move away from the standard girl with guitar folk club format. The addition of some good sympathetic instrumentalists with suitable arrangements and some work on Cate's personal stage image would elevate her material to a much higher plane. As things stand, I'm sorry to say Cate's appeal remains largely in one area of the entertainment scene - one in which I'm not particularly interested.

Then we came to The Adventurists. I have been following this band for the best part of a year now and had the pleasure of witnessing the evolution of a fine musical and comedic combination. Sam Walker - well known for his work with Turning Green and Shona Foster among an ever-increasing litany of other ventures and projects, and Dan Clark - best known to me as frontman to the splendid one-off outfit known as The Hat, have come together as The Adventurists and pooled their multifarious skills to produce an entertainment rarely paralled in pop music. It's taken this long to actually bare the fruit that the sapling of a year ago indicated that it was capable of sporting.

Their moniker is extremely apt as they clearly have only a skeletal plan for each performance and allow the quirks and accidents [and there are many!] of the occasion direct the progress of the show. They gel [variously like Laurel and Hardy, Ant & dec, chalk & cheese, balloon and razor blade]  by bouncing ideas off each other with juxtaposing songs by each of them in turn, intertwining these with poems and stories which are updated and redetermined by the ambience of the venue and reactions of the audience and incorporating the use of various instruments including a harp and a Jamaican steel drum. One example of this is the manner in which I have seen Sam's interpretation of the traditional ballad Matty Groves [made internationally well known by Fairport Convention around 1970] grow into a splendid piece of performance art over the 5 or 6 shows I've attended.

Watch out for them in your neck of the woods - I promise you - you will not be disappointed.

The headliners of the OneTaste evening were another new band to me - The Moulettes - a word which I'm finding it very difficult to remember [German Wikipedia tells me a moulette is a type of tool used in rotogravure!].

The Moulettes turned out to be a fantastic revelation - just the sort of thing I go out looking for on a night such as this. MySpace tells me they're a quintet, but tonight there were just 4 of 'em - including 2 hot women playing cello and bassoon [how sexy is that!] and 2 chaps percussing away to their hearts content. They all sing and together make an awesome noise and fantastic spectacle [Cate ferris - please note!] they produce a very happy kind of jazz-folk-fusion in the mode of Third Ear Band meets Curved Air and Blowzabella. Nice.

The song writing is excellent to boot and was spoiled by just one thing. By this time the audience had grown quite large and included many people who seemed to believe that their conversation was of more interest than the music - not only to themselves but to everybody else as well. In this they were sorely mistaken and are the only reason I can come up with as a good argument against free events. I know none of the offenders will read this so it's no good me asking them to consider real music lovers when they go to concerts but I will make a plea to performers to take a moment on occasions when this type of travesty occurs to speak out and tell the offenders to go elsewhere and let the rest of us enjoy the show.... [Climb down off soapbox]

Returning to my opening remarks - I think the variety of acts seen on this occasion go a long way to show that there's more to contemporary music than 2 guitars, a bass and a set of drums. I had a great time and I hope everyone else did too.

[A quick apology to the 2 bands I caught brief sight of upstairs at The Latest Music Bar. Sorry I forgot your names & did not witness enough performance to review you but I particularly liked the bluesy soul band with 2 fine female singers I spotted just before 9 o'clock - get in touch with detailsof where I can get to see you sometime.] 

Gaa Gaa'stly or Gaa Gaa-ntuan????

http://www.myspace.com/thegaagaas

I've been meaning to tell you about this one for a couple of months now, but things got in the freakin' way. I've been on one of my months' long depressive trips where I can't concentrate and nothin' gets done and to topit off when I did start writin' again I found I'd lost the CD in my filing system aka my record room floor.

But now that I've found it, I'll give you the benefit of my thinking about the little gem this item is.

The ep opens with the title track which is destined to become a  pogo anthem first class. The difference between true punk a la 76 and this is that the original flobbers didn't really know what they were upto - these guys do - they're post-punk revivalists in the mould of art-school new wavers such as The Cure with a nod towards the likes of  X-Ray Spex.

Track 2 'Entertainment' cements the foregoing image but before we get stuck in a one-trick pony groove, track 3 'Look The Other Way' shoots off in a slightly different direction, being  a farmore raw stripped down slow Oi-Oi type number and track 4 'The One Eyed Stranger' takes us pretty close to Beefheart Territory with its interesting soprano sax blowing effects. 

The Gaa Gaa's top off their already very tastyep- pudding with a dollop of syrupy cream called 'When I'm On My Own' [very AA Milnian]. This kicks off with a Floydian riff which melts into a Mike Skinner-type rap over an essentially instrumental piece of horny jazzed-up ska.

I suspect The Gaa Gaa's have many more influences stored up their sleeves which I look forward to being released one by one over the next few records.

Gaa Gaa'stly? - No way. Gaa Gaa-ntuan? - I hope so.

Short and Pretty Sweet…..

Short and Pretty Sweet…..

…because I’ve been out of circulation for the last few weeks [or is it months… perhaps even a year… or more!] I’m concerned that I’ll never catch up with reviewing all the lovely records people have so very kindly send in. So I’ve decided to write brief, to the point comments on some of them. Apologies if you feel at all short-changed by this – I promise to do better in the future.

The reality is that when I start writing I usually soon fall into stream of consciousness mode – there, I’m doing it already - so most of them are likely to turn out to be the shambolic rambles which they would have been anyway. So, here goes … see you on the other side.

TJ: Painted Dreams

http://www.myspace.com/digitaldreams2008

What transforms this from being a run-of-the-mill Singer/Songwritery record – and many of you will know my natural aversion to such work - is the incredibly deft orchestration which turns the, no doubt, worthy proselytising and the dangerously possible risk of self conscious introverted dreariness into pretty groovy music.

So, if you’re like me and just want your ear candy to provide a stunning background to your hopeless existence, you can rest assured that this one makes the grade and is well worth the effort to obtain a copy. You may even find yourself teetering towards paying some attention to the lyrics – I’m ashamed to admit that I’m leaning in that direction myself!

BenSem: Western Lights

htt://www.myspace.com/bensem

This album falls naturally into that strange category called Indy – an area into which I often find myself dragged and invariably get lost in. Because the parameters of the genre are largely undefined – the only indicator of one’s location therein is some sort of vague gut feeling. And to me it is generally quite a discomfiting sensation. I get the overall impression that here is a very well produced record of lightweight progressive rock reminiscent of early Genesis perhaps and nearly equal in both power and quality to such a product, but somehow not quite arriving in the land of total satisfaction to the beholder.

I’ve no clear idea why I feel this way – perhaps its just not my cup of tea, or maybe BenSem haven’t yet achieved the Gestalt required to make the diverse elements – which all seem to be in place - of music production gell properly. Whatever the cause, I think many listeners will find this album perfectly acceptable. As for myself, I think I’ll reserve judgement and wait and watch see where BenSem arrive in about a year from now.

Brassneck: With Something Amiss

http://www.myspace.com/brassneckpop

Brassneck’s good fortune begins in hailing from Hampshire’s Farleigh Wallop – who could possibly want a better provenance? Their second bit of good luck is in having 2 equally impressive lead vocalists which gives them a much wider musical spectrum in which to operate.

One is mightily impressed with opening track ‘Mess of Contradictions’ with its early Stranglers-like sound – I would have been quite content with a whole collection of songs in this vane, but am soon surprised with the complete difference in style of the following song .. and the next… and so on.

This band is stunningly versatile and inventive in both its song-writing and its performance.

I look forward to hearing more from Brassneck, starting with a full album, in the hope that they can maintain and develop the qualities they display here carry them through to providing a very interesting and important chapter in the history of rock.

The Dirty Strangers: West 12 to Wittering (Another West Side Story)

http://www.myspace.com/dirtystrangersw12

This album of high-class rock’n’roll has been on my turntable [or whatever you call it nowadays] at home and in the car ever since it plopped onto my doormat. When you realise the circles the band moves in and that great rockers including Keith Richard{s}, Ronnie Wood and Joe Brown queue up to play with them and appear on the record, there’s absolutely no doubt of the pedigree of the music herein.

I don’t think I need to say any more other than the record lives upto all the expectations raised by the foregoing remarks. It has the extra titillating encoaxment to buy when one realises the track Another West Side Story has been expunged from the record by Leonard Bernstein’s estate. One is able to obtain a copy under plain cover by accessing certain internet sites and giving the correct proof of identity….

Further to this, Brighton based readers might like to know that The Dirty Strangers are appearing in Lewes in August alongside legendary hippie guru/poet John Sinclair. Hope I can get along – if I do I’ll review the gig.

Well there are 4 reviews for you – it’s a start. I’ll attempt a few more tomorrow.

Halfway to Paradise 9

It's been A Long Time Coming......Ten Years After!

 

One of my favourite bands, Paradise 9, has at last produced a follow up to their  Wonderful 'Showtime' Album of 1999!

It's an EP entitled 'Nothing for Tomorrow'

Here's a track-by-track rundown and review....

Nothing for Tomorrow: Classic Space Rock meets Joe Strummer – Lead Vocalist Gregg McKella tells it like it is to a driving prog backing. Just the sort of thing to get an ageing hippie back in touch with his vital functions Brilliant – would be an instant number one hit if only The Man at the Record Company could get his underage-Adonis-worshipping-obsessed arse in gear, did his job properly and presented it to the World-At-Large. These Old Geezers have really been around the Block and paid all their dues to the Musical Ancestors, suffered all the setbacks and disappointments that Life can throw at them and The System can hand out. They’ve got far more to tell us than Those Virginal Dopes on E in Nappies.

Crystalized Moments – Doleful lilting symphonic rock of the first order worthy of Mr Gilmour’s little band of small furry creatures gathering in a cave and grooving with a Pict on One of Those Better Days.

Broken Promises: Mystical Magic conjuring trippy-dippy afternoons in the summer sun down at the local festival. Just like we had at Blaker’s Park a few weeks back.

Points of View: Eleven minutes of the twenty-first century social commentary P9’s so good at. The extended format allows Greggo to stretch out with his clarinet and us to space out on fresh chilled celestial grooves.

　

My biggest disappointment is that it isn't an album.

It's up to YOU now..

Buy it. Tell your pals about it. Demand your favourite Radio Station plays it.

Make it a Smash Hit. Put Paradise 9 where they deserve to be...

On the tip of the World's Tongue

On your record player

On the box

On and on.......

It's a Bush Recording...

Highway Metal by honeabyrne@myspace.com

 

Fans of Captain Beefheart's "Troutmask Replica" or even Lou Reed's "Man Metal Machine" might be interested to hear this. It's a 32-track album of experimental metal/electronica from the Mississippi area of the U S of A. Picked straight from the the tree - it's very thought-provoking and very RAW music.

You won't want to play it as wallpaper at a dinner party with your boss and  his wife. It's more the sort of thing you'd need to be in serious listening mode for. And, I'd advise make sure your kids and more sensitive cat are out of the way before you put it on. Else you might spend the next 24 hours dosing them up with Ritalin or Prozac.

Like anything falling outside the usual parameters, the sounds contained herein cannot be compared with any normal benchmarks for music - so epithets like good and bad just don't apply - as if they ever do! But I've listened to this album a few times now and although it grates mightily if it finds me in a particularly unbending mood, I have to say there's plenty of stuff here to stimulate the brain and make one ask questions about Music, Life, The Universe and Everything!

Yeeeeeeee-Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Went down to The Albert in Trafalgar Street, Brighton last evening. To see the assembled rabble crowded in that rather sedate velvet lined venue you'd have thought you'd just entered a road house in Hicktown, USA. Every reprobate in the area seemed to be gathered there. Teddy Boys, Psychobillies, Hells' Angels and their Molls, together with an odd assortment of hobos and hillbillies, come down off the mountain and out of the woods. How they got the word, goodness knows but it sure shows the bush telegraph is alive and functioning well.

 What drew me there was the call "Here... Pig, Pig Pig!" which came over MySpace  from Inbred Knucklehead.

 These Good Ol'  Boys have come over to Little Old England all the way from Roma, Italy if their publicity is to believed.  Personally I think they're really a reincarnation of the Beastie Boys who've spent too much time in the backwoods smokin' Kentucky Blue Grass with Hayseed Dixie. But we'll take them at their word - for the time being at least.

It turns out they're really accomplished musicians - playing everthing from Hip-Hop and Jazz-Funk, through Blues and Country  to just about any style of punk/metal - thrash, speed, darkwave etc etc etc with a few classical references thrown in for good measure of white lightning.

In short, they're superb, consummate entertainers and if you happen to be at a loose end in Brighton Tonite or London over the weekend then it'd be a mistake not to get along to The Latest Bar, Manchester Street, Brighton, Dusk Till Dawn at Archway or The Bull & Gate to check 'em out.

Having seen them I'd intended to go on home to write this blog but bassist Mike urged me to stay on to witness the crime that is Leonard & Bubbas Delicious Goo Goo Cluster.

What can I say? What CAN I say?????

They're truly truly disgustin'. An' if you, like me, like disgustin', they'll be right up yer back passage.

It'd be no point in tryin' to describe them further - so I'll just say git on down to one of their misdemeanours and lap up a saucerful of their pustulating bodily fluids.....

Mini-Maxibition

Last Friday evening took us on a rare trip away from Brighton. We went to Salisbury for the official opening of Artist Tom Walker's 'Snooker in the Frame' exhibition at the studios of Trinity Photography in the city's Trinity Street.

Some of you may have seen Tom's TV regular appearances at UK and World Snooker Championships over the last few years. He has completed his target of 147 snooker related pastel works. The subjects vary from pure snooker studies to word plays on snooker terminology to homages to great artists with a snooker twist. Most are very witty if not downright hilarious,  a few are a bit more serious but all are carefully observed and include the colours associated with the balls and the beize.

The  Salisbury exhibition, which had previously been shown complete for the first time at Sheffield's World Championship last month, does not include every piece, but those not present are represented in print form. The opening was crowded, due partly, no doubt, to the presence of Steve Davis, who did the honours of launching the show.

For those of you unable to visit the show which continues until 5th June, I urge you to visit Tom's website to sample some of its delights. Those of you who can get along, please don't miss the opportunity - you'll be glad you went. Besides a number of originals still available for purchase [many at the price of £147], there are prints of the whole set available in various sizes and a limited edition book showing all 147 in full colour.

Being somewhat biased having been the artist's friend for over 30 years I refer you to Global Snooker . Com for  more critical review than I might present!

Find the location of Trinity Photography and more details of the exhibition by visiting http://www.trinity-photography.co.uk/

Social Work @ The Komedia

Social Work @ The Komedia

I’m glad to see the local council have at last seen some sort of sense and brought their services to places where their potential clients are eking out their miserable existences instead of sitting in ivory towers waiting for the sick and needy to come to them.

I have experienced this imaginative new service in the form of Social Work being delivered to the Komedia in Brighton by the very proficient team styling themselves Bourgeois and Maurice. I believe them to be close associates of that other wonderful team of public benefactors Wallace and Gromit.

Together with a couple of hundred fellow sufferers these two experts took me through all the dubious behavioural deviancies that befall us as we stumble through the confusing midden that is everyday life in an effort to liberate us from the procrastinations we endure whilst trying to see out through the miasmic fog of our own psyches.

They achieved this through the very useful tho’ oft-neglected media of song, dance, dramatic re-enactment and the presentation of photographic evidence and the display of video footage, illustrating the manifold errors in our dealings with this hazardous world.

Mr Bourgeois, his startling appearance akin to those dangerous exemplars Frank N Furter and The Thin White Duke, took the role of main protagonist and role model of how not the disport oneself in public places. Meanwhile, his companion Ms Maurice, complete with beehive a la Mari Wilson et al, provided suitable background material in the form of musical accompaniment, clarifying remarks and other back-ups rather in the form of the more familiar Powerpoint Presentation.

All these was done with consummate ease and the clients all left feeling somewhat relieved of their burdens, quite refreshed, but looking forward to their next round of therapeutic input.

There is one danger I would warn against, however. This and similar fashionable styles of treatment should be used on the unsuspecting public sparingly and only in otherwise hopeless cases for the time being; at least until there is sufficient evidence of their efficacy and stringent safety parameters have been established. These limits should be kept under constant peer review through scrutiny via the usual channels and respectable journals such as Nature, Social Work Today and The Beano.

Paying Homage to the Goddess

If you’re a fan of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, like me, you might have often wondered what intergalactic superstar Disaster Area would actually sound like.

Well I believe I may have recently witnessed a scaled down Earthbound approximation of that almighty noise.

It’s called Diamanda Galas. A New Yorker of Greek extraction, she performed on the opening night of Brighton Festival at the Dome Theatre.

I’d been aware of this Diva since the eighties when she became notorious for her oratorio on the subject of HIV/AIDS. I have acquired a couple of her albums along the way, so considered I was pretty well in the know as to what one of her concerts might be like. Judging by the number of people walking out of the Dome during her performance it was quite clear that many in the audience were not in receipt of this useful knowledge.

The support act – a friendly improvisational cellist by the name of Erik Friedlander, also hailing from the Big Apple – provided a perfect foil for Diamanda’s more impersonable performance later in the evening. Billed as a friend and collaborator of the likes of John Zorn, one might have expected Erik to be pretty wild, but he turned out to be not so.

 

Although some of the pieces he played were a little unconventional especially for the cello. Many were typically American – very pastoral, describing big skies, stunning landscapes and small town life. He backed these up with reminiscences of travelling the country as a child in a mobile home in the company of his sister and parents; this had clearly informed his world-view particularly when the outlook of his somewhat eccentric father is taken into account.

Erik’s performance was exquisitely entertaining and seemed to please all present but it in no way prepared us for what was to follow.

The stage starts in almost total darkness apart from a bit of backlighting illuminating gushing chimneys of atmospheric smoke. The shadowy figure of Diamanda glides on in long black gown, a train fanning out behind. She appears as a rather ageing version of Morticia Addams as she sits down at her monstrous grand piano and starts thundering away at the bottom end, then launches into the wailing, groaning, screeching, gargling, yodelling and moaning dirges that make up her latest work which is entitled Songs of Exile.

The performance is life-changing to say the least and as I’ve previously indicated, there were many present who had no desire to alter their lives in that particular direction. Those who were of my persuasion, though, were quite enthralled by Ms Galas and would have fallen at her feet to worship had they been given the chance. Although the staging was mainly fairly minimal and in darkness, spot lighting was employed to good dramatic effect throughout [for which we were thankful, after a poor start in that department during Friedlander’s act – when he was once or twice illuminated in quite inappropriate colours!].

The Songs of Exile set is concluded and our heroine glides off as mysteriously as she arrived, not having spoken a word outside of song. The remaining audience, not at all satisfied – but only because even too much Diamanda will never be enough – stomp and shout and eventually she returns to perform something from the back catalogue. Then the ritual is repeated and this time after what seems even longer than before she reappears and launches into Johnny Cash’s grim gallows tale – Twenty-Five Minutes To Go. It is SUBLIME to say the least and brings the evening to a ‘swinging’ end. There’s nothing more to be said. We’re stunned, unsatiated but floored by what we’ve seen and heard. The Goddess has gone. Will she ever return?

I patiently await The Second Coming in Hope and Anticipation.

Give Us An F…..

 

Give Us An F…..

Give Us A U…

Give Us an N…

… What’s That Spell?????

 

 

This lunchtime a group of 7 met in the Cleveland Pub to discuss the organisational details for the music at this Year’s Picnic.

Although we have twice the stage area this year, it was decided to build the 2 sections together to make one larger stage and strictly limit the time for set up, sound-check and performance to 35 minutes. [15 minutes set up/ sound check and 20 minutes performance]. Hopefully we will thus have more space and time to keep the show moving and avoid disappointing anyone. This means that bands taking too much time in set up and sound check will shorten their performance time. Conversely, the quicker they get ready, the more time is available to perform in.

The provisional running order is as follows:

First act to set up @ 10.45
11.00  Pippa Drysdale

11.20  Dave Woozley & Varndean Students

12.10  Xanthus

12.45  Jack Psychosis

13.20  Sumerian Kyngs

13.55  Sam Heart Band

14.30  That Legendary Wooden Lion

15.05  Jules Franks Band

15.40  Saravian

16.15  Lekiddo

14.50  Rockheart

17.25  Paradise9

18.00  Caitlin Stubbs & Bella Spinks

18.35  Woodstock Jam

The timetable is very tight and will require all the acts to arrive in good time to be ready to go on at their appointed times. Anyone turning up too late is liable to miss their slot altogether. We ask performers to remember this is a family event and their material should reflect this fact.

As there are still bands who would like to perform but cannot because of time restrictions, I would ask any act to let me know at the first opportunity should illness or other factors mean they can no longer make it.

Because 2009 is the fortieth anniversary of Woodstock, we are asking performers to consider putting an item or theme into their act that celebrates this landmark anniversary in the history of popular music. No pressure – but it’d make them seem that bit even more super-cool than they are normally! We’d then ask as many people to remain at the gig as possible so they can ALL JOIN IN a supergroup Woodstock Jam.

I am hoping to arrange a Radio Reverb appearance on Paul Wilson's 'Ears Wide Open' show to promote the event. To provide music for this I'd like to try to play music by each of the acts appearing. So would all the bands please send an mp3 or CD with a shortish track [say 3-5 minutes] they'd like me to air on that occasion and perhaps but up on a player on MySpace.

To find out more about any of the performers please go to …

and locate their individual pages from the Top Friends Application. Also please check out Random SJT! [who will be official photographer for the day} and Buz who will be an important member of the production team. Sound Engineering will be managed by Roy Weard, as it was last year.

More news to follow as it develops.

Give Us An F…..

Give Us A U…

Give Us an N…

… What’s That Spell?????

abi.rhodes@tiscali.co.uk

 

 

http://blakerspark.blogspot.com

 

www.myspace.com/bpcp2008

Simple Pleasure

 

Deep Jackson: Sense of Urgency

www.myspace.com/deepjackson

I’m not terribly experienced in reviewing Hip-Hop and/or Rap records as my familiarity with the genres is pedestrian to say the least, so here’s a critique based on experience limited to that of a general listener rather than a hardcore fan.

From that point of view, I’d say Deep Jackson is a pretty good candidate for popular acclaim and success. Rather like Eminem he has very clear diction and the arrangements are fairly uncluttered by complex backing or extraneous noise which, although usually very entertaining, often obscure the message contained within the lyrics.

In fact, the simplicity of some of the orchestrations often means each track has a distinct character of its own. For example, track3 ‘R.H.S.S. [Rain, Hail Sleet, Snow]’ has a sparse backing of piano and chorus, which is very impressive indeed.

At the same time, track 9 entitled ‘Hot Girls’ retains a simple arrangement but clever timing and slick editing makes it sound action-packed and exciting.

Although I’ve always been an advocate of full-on production as in the Wall of Sound, cleverly arranged records such as this illustrate just how effective the opposite technique can be.

So while I know enough to be able say that this record isn’t wildly original in the ground that it covers, it is plainly a very good paradigm for its type.

Fab Poster for Blaker's Park Community Picnic

Designed by Susan Sly of the Rockheart band. Thank you Susan!

 The Woodstock theme is to celebrate 40 years since that momentous event took place.

We hope to ask each act appearing at BPCP2009 to consider inserting something into their performance in memory of that occasion. And we'd like to end the event with a monster jam/singalong on the Woodstock Theme. so put on your thinking caps and suggest songs to sing/play.

Please feel free to print off, duplicate, distribute and display the poster.

www.myspace.com/bpcp2008                         http://blakerspark.blogspot.com

Thanks you

Abi Rhodes/Ian Lawes

A Simple lesson in Writing a Review.....

 

The Modern Exposition: Now Was The Future

www.myspace.com/themodernexposition

"I wonder whether it’s worth listening to?" is the question I ask myself each time a new CD lands on my doormat. There’s only one way to find out. So I plop it into my player. Hmmmmmmmm….

Ambient prog-folk-rock au Mike Oldfield is the first thing that jumps into my head when I start to listen to this one. But it’s not quite that simple now, is it? Now I’m getting a bit of Spaghetti Western with Nigel Kennedy taking the lead, now it’s like a soft-rock version of Kraftwerk, there goes J-M Jarre speeding by on a ski-jet……and what’s this? Echoes of Jig-a-Jig – it’s a long time since we heard that one! Plus .. no, not tubular bells, but – almost as good – a hurdy-gurdy, I’ll be bound.

Each time I replay I get flavours of favourite sounds from different musical genres spreading over thirty or more years. And to cap it all, there’s hardly any contamination by pointless lyrical cleverness. Yes – it’s pretty much an instrumental album – always a bonus in this day-and-age of dreary dirges and soppy serenades.

So… my final verdict. Was it worth the ear-strain? Well, frankly, yes it was. Well worth it! It’s a brilliant – sometimes beautiful - little record that’s quite unique in its gentle power to draw out fond memories from the jaded mind and leave one thoroughly satisfied with one’s lot – a rare quality indeed.

BLAKER’S PARK OPEN AIR ART DISPLAY

 

BLAKER’S PARK OPEN AIR ART DISPLAY

SUNDAY 10th MAY 2009

The Friends of Blaker’s Park are organising their first ever open air display of local art at the Tennis Courts on Sunday 10 May next from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Are you artistic in any way? Do you or any of your family create paintings, drawings, photographs, collages or even clothes and jewellery.

If so, bring them along to show other local people.

There are no prizes, just an opportunity to display what you have made.

Remember that this art display is open to all, of any age, from toddlers to pensioners.

This first Blaker’s Park Art Display will be on the second Sunday of the Brighton Festival and we hope it will form the largest gallery wall in the city.

 The Park is surrounded by the Fiveways Artists’ Trail and the show will be opened by local artist, Ned Hoskins, who pioneered the first Open Houses back in the 1980s.

This display is not only for people who describe themselves as artists, but for anybody who has something which they have made and of which they are proud. All are welcome.

HERE IS WHAT TO DO

1. Fix a hook or string to attach your entry to the tennis court fence.

2. Bring it to the desk by the Café between 11 a.m. and 11.45 a.m. on Sunday 10th May.

3. Pay a donation of 20p. to the Friends.

4. Give 30 minutes of your time during the day to act as an attendant at the site.

5. Take down your art between 5 p.m. and 5.45 p.m. that same day.

We hope for good weather on the 10th May and look forward to a lovely display.

Address queries to: Philip Smith, Chairman, Friends of Blaker’s Park, 109 Havelock Road, Brighton. Tel: 553330. e-mail: pccs109@yahoo.co.uk

Quirkish Delight

Yves Klein Blue: Draw Attention To Themselves

http://www.myspace.com/yveskleinbluemusic

 

Having been avidly consuming new music for the best part of 50 years, the most important thing I’ve learned to my advantage is that it is unreasonable to expect every new release to be fantastically original or ground-breaking.

It can be very tiresome to find that one’s latest rave sound is, for the next 9 months, the only style that mainstream radio is interested in and that all breaking music seems to be a pale imitation of what was originally a great fresh departure for popular music.

On the other hand, it is very satisfying when one hears a record that indicates its creators have done some spade work and have mined some of the rich abandoned seams of musical gold. [How’s that for a metaphor?]

This is just what I think that Brisbane’s Yves Klein Blue have been doing in developing their mini-album (to) ‘Draw Attention To Themselves.’

It’s a hugely nostalgic trip down the quirkier long and winding roads of rock and pop history. I hear echoes of vicarious vanishing voices such as The Kinks, Jonathan Richman, Tom Waits and The Streets to name but a few.

At the same time the album sounds bang upto the minute – very twenty-first century. I can’t fault it.

I look forward to hearing more from this band – maybe they’ll even end up with a sound that’s identifiably their own. Meanwhile they can dig up a few more skeletons as far as I’m concerned.

I’m told YKB are appearing at Brighton’s ‘Great Escape’ later this year. Anyone wanna get me a ticket?….please!

Hotel Insectoria

Hotel Insectoria

 

If, like me, you are something of an armchair or fair-weather gardener, and you are, also like me, not an avid adherent of that modern-day scourge of home and garden ‘de-cluttering’, then read on. Here is an idea that will make your lack of urgency and ardency seem both virtuous and purposeful.

When you feel up to the challenge, stroll out into the garden and survey those accumulated heaps of wood, bricks, tiles, old pots, gravel, cardboard, roofing felt, dead leaves, hay, string, bamboo canes, wire netting, plastic bottles and the rest. Believe it or not, you will have just taken the first step on the relatively simple unstrenuous project of creating both a stunning piece of architecture and a valuable wildlife haven in your very own backyard.

Next get into your car and take a trip around the neighbourhood and find about half a dozen discarded palettes. You can now add the public service of litter clearance to your CV of praiseworthy achievements!

It is not necessary to collect all these ingredients during your first skirmish with the alien and hostile Great Outdoors. This Grand Scheme can be viewed as a work in progress that can evolve over more than one growing season. The discoveries you make along the way will allow you to tweak the development of the Project as you go along, thus allowing for plenty of scope for contemplation and rumination.

It’s about time I told you what this wonderful worthwhile wildlife project actually is. It is the construction of a wildlife or invertebrate tower or hotel.

Using combinations of the above items, you attract a wide variety of species into your garden, not only as visitors but, more importantly, as long-term residents by offering them accommodation where they can take advantage of first-class facilities in which to spend a few days or even survive the winter. The attraction of insects in particular will contribute greatly to the conservation of bio-diversity in your district, as they are crucial in the pollination of plants and provide food for birds, amphibians and reptiles.

The Tower is constructed by laying palettes on top of each other like a pile of sandwiches and filling the spaces within with the various sandwich fillings you have collected. Placing concrete slabs or sheets of polythene between layers can allow the lower storeys to remain dry and draught free so that overwintering creatures stay secure, dry and warm. Higher layers may be damper – perhaps the top could be covered with a layer of turf in which wildflower seed could be planted to attract feeding birds and insects. This will require some watering on warm summer evenings – plenty of work for the more active among us.

The ground floor might be a hedgehog hotel with leaves, hay and straw. Piping, roof-tiles and the like might provide shelter for amphibians and reptiles such as frogs, toads, slow worms and lizards. Bundles of twigs and bamboo canes tied together with string or electrical zip ties will attract insect species such as lacewings and airbricks or logs drilled with holes can invite masonry bees, moths and other interesting and threatened species. Logs with loose bark or corrugated cardboard will encourage woodlice, beetles, centipedes and spiders. Dry hay or shredded paper may provide nest material for field mice and some species of low nesting birds.

If the delicate eco-system you are creating is at all threatened by larger household pets – cats and dogs – you can protect it by judicious application of wire netting on exposed areas. The gauge will depend on the animals you wish to attract. If you are hoping for small mammals, avoid chicken wire at the appropriate level.

You will have gathered by now that the possibilities presented by this challenge are endless. You can take the project as far as you are inclined to do and at a pace that suits your energy level. Its extent is only limited by your imagination and even that can be extended by exploring the Internet. I suggest Googling for combinations of "wildlife/invertebrate hotel/tower." And if you feel building your own creation rather more exhausting than you’re willing to contemplate, you will even find a number of commercially produced alternatives available there!

 

The Revolution ..... is NOW!!!!!

Yuksek: "Away From The Sea"

Universal Music

http://awayfromthesea.com

http://www.myspace.com/yuksek

 

Yuksek’s ‘Away from The Sea’ album kicks off with one of the most dissonant pieces I’ve ever heard. It’s called ‘Break Ya’ and it does exactly what it says on the tin! After a bit one’s discomfiture settles down a little but I can’t say you ever quite recover the composure one had been experiencing previously. Interesting…

..but, luckily, not all the tracks on this CD are quite so challenging – otherwise there might be a steep increase in the number of admissions to mental hospitals as a result.

Taken as a whole this record exhibits an exciting and varying fusion of standard electronica, hip-hop and other pop and dance forms.

What I think we have here is a highly promising departure from the norm in all genres, pushing back boundaries and smashing all the usual accepted standards to smithereens. Yahooooooo!

In Brief

In Brief

A few quick reviews of records that have been hanging around for some time now. Thanks to those people who continue to have faith in my reviewing by sending CDs etc for my consideration. I am doing my best to cover as many as I am able to get my head around!

[In case you don’t already know, the past year has been a nightmare for me. My brother killed himself in Spain leaving my aged and demented mother homeless over there . I have tried with only limited success to come to terms with the situation and while my mother is now comfortably housed in a very nice care home, there are outstanding financial questions to be resolved. And I have not yet properly dealt with the loss of my brother.]

Colbie Caillat: Coco

Island Records 1740518

 www.myspace.com/colbiecaillat

 

If this record had been released in the 1970s, when the whole singer/songwriter student garret thing was at its peak, I’m convinced it would have been a monster hit album across the world.

Colbie’s voice is dreamy, seductive and beguiling, her tunes being, mostly, gently muted soul inspiring love songs. The visual image is of a beautiful young woman making her way in life through the perpetual California beach-based summer.

Delightful, in fact, for anyone who hasn’t lived through the disenchantment of the last 30 years of Thatcherism, Globalisation and Climate Change.

 This record is for people who want to ignore real life so completely that the most you can worry about what colour handbag to carry today.[Which could just turn out to be a significant part of the population!]

It lacks any sort of innovation or bite which makes one sit up and exclaim, ‘Hey, this woman really has something to say!’ All this is a great shame, but to make an impact on the music business, you really need to have more to offer than this.

Mighty Girl: Long Gone

www.myspace.com/mightygirlmusic

 

This record is far more to my liking.

The whole thing seems to belong to the present century. It’s earthy and realistic and the music pays attention to the historical development of rock since those heady days of hippiedom when everything was so potentially ‘NICE’ [I know it never really was – but Colbie Caillat still seems to labour under that illusion!].

I’m trying my best to pigeonhole this record but I can’t – that has to be a positive thing. I notice Mighty Girl are in a similar quandary – they use those meaningless standbys ‘Indie/Pop/Rock’ on their MySpace page.

It’s just good old fashioned (in the nicest possible way) MUSIC!

I am Not Lefthanded: Yes Means No

www.myspace.com/iamnotlefthandedeither

 

A delightful little album of melancholic songs by this band originating from Dublin, complete with the sweetly lilting voice of Kathryn.

This music brings the singer/songwriter style into the twenty-first century and seems far more appropriate to me than poor old Colbie’s fluffy stuff {see above}.

Not much more to be said really. A little gem!

Misery Guts: Trying to be the Sun

Electric Sheep Records

www.myspace.com/miserygutsmusic

 

With a name like Misery Guts, you can't really fail, can you?

Great modern folk music this, complete with plinky-plonky mandolin sounds.

It’s got all the elements you require in the genre – drama, singability, funkiness, originality, humour, etc, etc, etc. One of the best records I’ve heard in ages.

The Myspace page is brilliant too – lots of cartoons illustrating the songs. Go take a look now!

Audio Justice: Overdrawn at the Memory Bank

www.audiojustice.com     www.myspace.com/audiojustice

 

This is one of those truly remarkable very high quality records entirely the work of one person. In this case the responsible party is one Dan Furr working out of Cambridge [UK].

This guy plays all sorts of instruments, selecting them well to suit each individual song. And each song is the biz.

The overall sound displays manifold influences – I’d slot it into a sort of fusion category I guess – prog meets postpunk – not that it matters..... It’s WAY KOOL.

Required listening!

Suds & Soda

Suds & Soda

www.myspace.com/sudsandsodamusic

Cuckoo La La, Style Over Substance, England (I Can’t Like You Any More)

 

Suds & Soda Mice Base Influences list only cites fairly modern artists as their background but I detect a more historic origin to this brilliant sound.

I mean the post-punk electro stylee of the likes of Hazel O’Connor and similar Eighties icons.

These songs are consistently good and can be highly recommended. I want to hear more of these retro-flavoured celebrations for the present day from this bangin' little band.

My only plea is that we do not get a whole rash of imitators– that will only kill the wonderful effect Suds & Soda bring to us stone dead for another 20 years.

I notice S&S are appearing at Glasto this year. On the evidence of this handful of tracks, they’ll go down a storm

Blaker's Park Community Picnic 2009

 

Blaker's Park Community Picnic 2009

This year's Blaker's Park Community Picnic is on Saturday 20th June from 11am till 6pm. So far we have Saravian, Dave Woozely, Caitlin Stubbs, Paradise9, That Legendary Wooden Lion, Jules Franks, Jack Psychosis and Xanthus lined up.

We hope to present a number of new acts from the local area.

Rising Star Pippa Drysdale has expressed an interest in performing but this will depend on her being able to timetable us before going off to Bramfest for her set later in the day.

We will have to be careful not to overbook what is really quite a short day but we may be able to fit in a few more acts provided we can build a big enough stage which enables us to be setting up one band while another is performing.

This will mean that performers will have to be not-too-precious in sound-checking etc

We will be pleased to accept offers of help backstage - as well as offers of equipment loans - mikes, stands, cables, stools, drumkit, etc

please get in touch:-

Abi Rhodes/Ian Lawes 35 Waldegrave Road, Brighton BN1 6GR

abi.rhodes@tiscali.co.uk

01273 270501

www.myspace.com/bpcp2008

http://blakerspark.blogspot.com/