Abi Rhodes' Zigzag Wanderings

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/

Neon Synthesis: Alchemy of Rebirth

Neon Synthesis: Alchemy of Rebirth

 website    myspace

There was a time when this sound might have been labelled as Post-Rock – thankfully it seems that meaningless term has gone out of fashion, so I guess I’ll have to coin a new one to locate Neon Synthesis in the correct ballpark.

It’s not simple – they’re obviously Goth Metal of some sort but they employ a variety of techniques that suggest there’s a sort of euro-fusion going on here. Fusion with Techno and Dance forms are evident in the music among the usual death-metal motifs while the visual image portrayed by the band’s mode of dress perhaps lies somewhere between Robert Smith and Herman Munster.

It’s pretty impressive really although I feel the band needs some development before they can really say they’ve got a niche that’s all their own. I hope they survive long enough to do this as this debut album suggests they’ve got the potential to go on to do truly great things.

147 - maximum break

Pippa Drysdale: Fire in The Snow [Glowbug PDFTTS200801]

website  myspace  

Here’s a very pleasing album from another new young singer-songwriter. She’s got a great voice with a slight scratchiness that adds a charming quality to the well-crafted songs and tunes.

I’m told she’s booked to appear at Beachdown Festival near Devil’s Dyke, Brighton later in the summer. She’ll go down a storm – the songs have just the right sort of relaxed ambience for an outdoor setting on a sultry summer evening.

Pippa’s flavour is far more Greenwich Village than the Sak’s Fifth Avenue suggested by the CD cover illustration.

Thank Goodness!

Epochate: Chronicles of a Dying Era

Epochate: Chronicles of a Dying Era www.myspace.com/epochate

 This album has a Big Production Sound leading me towards a more traditional hardrock/HM area of categorisation – although the very Gothic subject matter of the lyrics remains firmly in the Darkwave [as I’ve found it’s called] sphere.

It’s relatively easy listening for those not totally at home with the genre – in fact it’s got an almost orchestral feel to it, tempered at times with what one might even describe as dance rhythms which altogether actually makes it a pretty satisfactory listening experience!

Whether this sort of recommendation would go down well with hardcore fans I don’t know. In fact, I don’t care - it makes no odds in the final analysis that here we have a pretty high quality product which given the right exposure will offer good listening to an audience right across the sound spectrum.

Darkwaveart

This morning I received a very exciting package of releases from DarkWave Press & Promotions who I don’t believe I’ve heard from previously.

The parcel contained 7 CD releases from their stable of bands, which are variously distributed across the globe by one or all of the following companies - Subsound/narcotica/alive/code7/phd/rockinc.

The bands broadly all fit into what I call the Death-Metal/Terrorisor school of rock [that’s my category – no doubt the cognoscenti of this ilk of musik have their own upto the minute genre titles, but it’s a waste of time bothering with these nuances – they will all be different tomorrow].

The above will tell you that I can’t be considered as a hard-core aficionado of Metal in any of its manifold guises, but I’m gonna make an attempt at reviewing them all from a broader music lover’s point of view. It may take a day or two… or even more!

Here’s the first – watch out for more in the next few days.

Inferno*: Pompa Magna

*to be intended as inferno sci-fi grind’n’roll from Rome Italy [sic]

http://www.myspace.com/infernogrindnroll

 

This album has 15 tracks dividing conveniently into 2 main types. The first is the standard grind’n’roll [their terminology] style and as far as I can judge these tracks are executed in the tight economical way that such pieces generally are – no complaints here but I think there’s nothing too original to blow my trumpet about either.

On the other hand the second group is far more interesting, being of a highly experimental nature – using feedback etc and sounding almost like cutting edge Electronica in places.

I especially like the long final track ‘Valhalla Can Wait,’ the very brief ‘Do Androids Have Sex in Electric Cars’ and the very enigmatic ‘The Weeping Saw,’ which sounds like a drunken country singer with his head down the toilet calling for help from above.

The musical value of these tracks is well on par with the inventiveness of the titles! Even if you’re not a fan of the hardcore metal stuff, the more esoteric tracks are well worth seeking out this album for.

Can We Return To The Late 60s/Early 70s

Last week I went along to The Brunswick pub in Holland Road [Hove, actually] to witness the launch of the ‘Can we Return to the Heart’ album by The Jules Franks Band. I have previously reviewed the album and the band’s debut at the Unitarian Church, New Road, Brighton. I have to say that The Brunswick proved to be a much more suitable venue for the noise the band make! The evening was very cleverly organised with the early part showing video film of Jules’s travels in India accompanied with tracks from his earlier musical works. These were very impressively put together indeed. Jules then performed solo exhibiting his prowess with a number of his percussion instruments including the amazing Swiss-made ‘Hang’ – a gong-like device comprised of a couple of West Indian steeldrums welded together in a flying saucer or barbecue shape! The sound produced was absolutely amazing and Jules’ mastery of the instrument was sublime. The 7-piece band augmented by a clarinettist then presented a pretty true track-by-track rendition of the album only briefly interrupted by an interlude for Jules to rest his voice and the group to perform their very special version of The Beatles’ ‘Tomorrow Never Knows.’ The sizeable audience clearly appreciated the music as much as I did, so I’d say the evening was a veritable success – I hope Jules manages to sell a good few albums as a result.

Rapport Report

February 24th was Shrove Tuesday and MyFriends Anita and Tom invited me to Bom-Banes for a birthday meal [I was Heinz Varieties years old on Monday 23rd] where The Adventurists were performing apres-manger. I was a little disappointed to find Pancakes were not on the menu but I soon felt better when I saw there was definitely stoemp – that’s Bom-Banes speciality mash potatoes garnished with a sausage of chioce – I chose Wild boar – Banger of the Month! I don’t need to review the meal other than to say it was upto its usual twelve out of ten standard as was the excellent Belgian Beer I washed it down with. The Adventurists comprise Sam Walker, famous drummer of Turning Green [as was] and Dan Clark, front man of The Hat. Now I have seen them performing together before in a more-or-less impromptu sort of way but this was the first official gig as The Adventurists I’d witnessed. And very entertaining it turned out to be. The pair bill their performances as guaranteeing a different show every night. One can see how they deliver this as they have a basic skeleton of a repertoire on which they build the specific gig according to the peculiarities of the venue and the nature of the audience present. They spark off these environmental factors and each other to make the performance particular to the occasion, creating an ambience that feels very intimate and special for the audience. In short, they have a brilliant rapport between them. The show consists of a variety of songs and stories. While these often carry a serious contemporary message about the world, the environment, love and war etc nevertheless manage to throw the situations into the relief of a more leftfield part of the spectrum and coax out a belly-laugh into the bargain. Both Sam and Dan are clever and poetic manipulators of the Thesaurus. And their familiarity and proficiency with a wide range of musical instruments and their willingness to experiment with any others which might come to hand mean that the show ducks and dives at every turn and you never quite know what’s coming next – and I doubt whether they do either! On this occasion, the show was boosted by the presence of Bam-Banes resident multi-instrumentalist Nick Pynn who joined in on an ad-hoc basis, using fiddle and other assorted items including a corkscrew employed as a make shift puppet emerging from behind a newly erected ‘stage-curtain’ to great comic effect. This merely emphasised the flexibility, versatility, adaptability, what-you-will that The Adventurists can bring to their gigs. I’m certain they’re destined to become a regular high-light of the local community and festival scene. Watch out for them down your way! Commercial Break..... The Adventurists have released an EP whiich contains 6 of the tracks they perform regularky. For a 'live' recording the production by Jim Mortimer is exceptional. The songs are witty and entertaining and the musicianship is fab. Get yourself along to their MySpace to find details of how to lay your mitts on a copy.

Metafizzix

Ugochill: Theory of Relaxivity

 

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Hailing from a variety of Eurocapitals, Ugochill exercise their wide spectrum of musical credentials on this excellently produced album. It’s one of those records that stubbornly refuses to be pigeon-holed but conjures up at different moments vivid images from the whole gamut of rock’s history and styles. It’s a perfect means of transporting oneself down memory lane while at the same time keeping one’s feet planted firmly on the ground of 21^st century production standards and keeping a sense that one is listening to something totally fresh and original. I’d go as far to say that Ugochill have selectively plundered the caverns of Rock Treasures from Prog and Soul to Hip-Hop and Techno and transformed their loot into New Music of the highest quality. Every track, including a brilliant cover of Lennon’s ‘Mind Games,’ creates its own particular groove which runs for just the right length of time – when it’s finished, you’re satisfied and ready to move on to the next one. This is quite a rare feature for records from all but a handful of Top Artists – most records tend to rattle the same sabre relentlessly until one’s thoroughly run through and wanting never to hear another song from that album! But Ugochill ring the changes with such deftness that it’s difficult to believe they could ever equal the feat and produce a record of similar standard. But I bet they will!

Expecting to Fly

Friday 21st November 2008: Unitarian Church, New Road, Brighton The Jules Franks Band / Alan O’Rourke / Enrick Adam

 

I reviewed the Album CAN WE RETURN TO THE HEART ] by Jules Franks just over a year ago. In the intervening time I have revisited to that record several times and am happy to say that it has in no way palled on me. It has taken the intervening period for Jules to get a performing band together and rehearse it to a standard where he was happy to make a live appearance. I can tell you now that this long wait has been well worth while.

The venue – Brighton’s Unitarian Church – provides a small but attractive space so the impression on arrival was that this was going to be a promising night out. As I entered, French guitarist Enrick Adam was already underway with his set. I was immediately in no doubt about the veracity of the advertised description of this guy as being a virtuoso – he plays the Spanish/Classical style acoustic instrument very efficiently indeed with a just enough variation to escape from being side-lined into the Windham Hill/Coda style ambient/chill ghetto. But it was when he turned to a semi-acoustic instrument and used a combination of clever picking with percussive effects on the sound-box to produce some very exciting avant-garde music that he really impressed this cynical observer.

Next up was the Irish Singer-Songwriter Alan O’Rourke. Regular readers will know that this is not my favourite genre of music, so I was not necessarily expecting anything particularly startling. I’m happy to report that once again my jaundiced preconception was totally unjustified. Alan is unclassifiable by any usual terms of categorisation, so I shall have to resort to a series of comparisons with easily recognisable landmarks of good taste to tell you what he was like! His basic voice and accent is somewhat reminiscent of that of U2’s Bono, but this has to be qualified by saying this is only the start of what he has to offer. Imagine Frank Skinner creaky comedic delivery and transfer this to a singing voice. Also think the extremes of bronchial hacks and wheezes delivered sometimes from deep throat, sometimes as a high nasal whine and apply these methodologies to a wide spectrum of moans, grunts and other gutteral utterances and you have a rough picture of what we’re dealing with here. These vocals sounds are amazing and set alongside a number of interestingly creative acoustic guitar effects they provide a highly emotive and descriptive kind of music which one doesn’t need to actually hear the songwords to get all the information one needs to know to decipher the music. It’s dramatic and picturesque and highly original to boot. The sounds at one time reminded me of David Crosby’s seminal album ‘If I Could Only Remember My Name’ with its extreme variation of volume and vocal range and its rambling noodly styling. When Jules Franks joined Alan to jam on djembe I was reminded of Plant & Page’s excursions into middle eastern music on their un-Ledded ‘No Quarter’ album. Despite having to invoke these comparisons to draw a picture of the area we were in, it needs to be said that Alan O’Rourke is a true original with a sound and style of his own. He deserves to be sought out by anyone looking for something new to brighten up or revive their musical landscape.

Finally we came to the moment I have been awaiting for over a year - The Jules Franks Band. For those who do not already know, I think it worthwhile to describe the musical ballpark we find ourselves in here. Think Psychedelia – take a pinch of Traffic, a soupcon of Curved Air, perhaps smatterings of The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Chick Corea’s Return to Forever and East of Eden. But most of all think Quintessence, with their heady amalgam of prog-rock and jazzy mysticism.

I was really hoping The Jules Franks Band would be able to deliver on the promise of the very fine album that preceded them. I’m ecstatic to be able to report that they delivered in fine style. My only beef would be that the venue and the sound system were probably not commensurate with what they had to offer. The seven members of the band were crammed onto a very small stage and one received the impression that the individual players did not have enough space into which they could relax enough to really let themselves go. Also the amplification and acoustics were not good enough to provide the really full sound which they were obviously striving to produce.

Having said this, I want to assure you that the actual performance from the whole band – guitar, bass, keys, harmonium, drums, electric fiddle and Jules’s range of percussion instruments - was indeed excellent if not even better than expected. They reproduced the songs from the album with great faithfulness to the originals adding new flourishes and imbuing individual instrumental embellishments as were necessary and the vocal stylings were truly brilliant.

The highlight of the evening was their rendition of ‘Pretender to the Throne’ which I think will become their signature tune. They then rounded off the evening with a dazzling version of ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ which seemed totally appropriate.

The Tomorrow I’m looking forward to contains the Jules Franks Band, possibly with an easily remembered and more lyrical moniker, playing sunny venues filled with masses of swaying adoring hippy musos being transported to a musical paradise on a magic carpet of perfect acoustics at a satisfyingly comfortable high volume that adequately supports the sublime musical experience I know Jules and his cohort are capable of providing.