Abi Rhodes' Zigzag Wanderings

BATTLE CRY!!!!!

ASHBIRD:The Edge of Reality            [Seismic Studios]

www.ashbird.co.uk

The most important thing when designing an album’s running list is that the opening bars of the first track should grab the listener’s ear right from the word ‘go’. This is doubly so if the listener is a jaded reviewer fed up with hearing more of the same old same old. The second most important thing is to make sure the first track is not the best you have on offer – thus you should have at least half a dozen ‘goodies’ before you even consider laying down tracks for an album. Otherwise you should think in terms of just issuing singles for the time being.

The instrumental opener on Ashbird’s ‘The Edge of Reality’ certainly passes the first test. The sinister lead in few bars of ‘Scratch the Surface’ get the adrenaline pumping in anticipation of what will happen next. You really have no clue in what direction the song is heading… then.. WHAM!!!.... the track bursts into a thrillingly murderous modern metal thrash. This serves as a fanfare announcing  that here is a band who will NOT be meddled with – they mean business as the track runs seamlessly into ‘Damnation’ a song whose title says it all – Death Metal of the first order.

But the band is no mere one-trick pony. Track 4, ‘Face the Light’ brings a totally new direction reminiscent of such Zeppelin sweeties such as ‘Black Mountain Side.’ Here guitarist Matt Chalk [ex-Vivid Sky] shows off his prowess in solo acoustic territory. This bodes well for the question of whether there’s enough quality and variety to mark a great album rather than a merely adequate one.

The band goes on to prove their versatility with ‘My Duality’ – a more personal,  mystical and lyrical offering which is a move into more conventional rock than hitherto.

Then comes the album’s title track which has to be a goodie to earn that epithet. And it is!  It’s another intriguing intro which this time heralds a great metal anthem, which surely stirs the mosh-pit into action.

‘Battle Cry,’ similarly to ‘Scratch the Surface,’ starts by building a prog-rock soundscape using a thunder storm and ominous guitar meandering, then bursting into a vocal call to action as the title suggests. Military Rock! Get YOUR marching orders here! Possibly the best track of the album for Zeppelin fans, like me!

Some of the lyric writing – mostly, I should guess, by lead vocalist Aaron Burke stands quite well as read-out-loud poetry. None more so than that found in ‘Across Divides’ – and it mixes admirably and equally well with iconic metal guitar riffs and clashing cymbals as it does here - and is not lost in the process.

Possibly the third most important thing about album composition is to end with a number which rounds off the whole but leaves the listener wanting more. Ashbird, having ticked all the other boxes, accomplish this requirement effortlessly with ‘Hypnotize,’ another fine rocker that reminds us of the wonderful spectrum of songwriting and instrumental virtuosity we’ve experienced throughout this brilliantly well-conceived album.

A great debut from an exciting and compelling band who will hopefully take both the rock and metal worlds by storm.

Sing Unto Me

Moulettes: The Bear's Revenge  Album

Moulettes: Sing Unto Me  EP

www.moulettes.co.uk

I have blogged a couple of times about gigs I've been to where The Moulettes have been the most remarkable item on the programme. Now I've got the opportunity to review this couple of cds from them.

If you've read my previous ramblings you'll know the attraction that makes this band stand apart is the diversity instrumentation which includes bassoon, autoharp, cello glock and banjo to name but a few. What I'm keen to find out is whether the immense warmth the band generates in the live setting translates onto disc. The answer is that, by-and-large, it does; mainly, I think, because the quality of the vocals by the whole crew retains that quality that says they're singing just for, or with, you.

Both discs open with the song 'Sing Unto Me' which is a totally stunning number. It's got a wonderful simplicity that says you've known this song all your life - although there's a complexity which makes it quite unique.  It's not quite a nursery rhyme nor a playground chant yet we know we know it. I must be in the soul. A beautiful yet strangelly evocative anthem that will stay with us forever. It's worth the purchase for this one alone. And I haven't even mentioned the amazing strings that weave in and out of the ditty.

Apart from the above song, the track listings on the 2 cds are quite different from each other which is a nice way to ensure you will want to buy both.

The EP has six tracks including the title track and 2 remixes [which are so different they can be viewed as different titles] and an 'acappella' track [quotes because it's accompanied by a drone which makes it shiveringly haunting].

The album gives a much wider opportunity for the band to illustrate their fantastic diversity and virtuosity. From simple [eh??] traditional folk to straight pop, jazz ["yeah"], quasi-classical, prog-rock and various stops in between they manage to show us they are a folk-fusion band of great skill and the highest standing and they deserve to be heralded as such.

Humdinger...Folk Singer

http://www.reverbnation.com/saracoffield

Well... I've had the honour of knowing this lady for what?...five or more years now. I first came across her on her myspace page lurking under the name Saravian. As she was inhabiting Brighton at the time and I'd had this idea of turning the Blaker's Park Community Picnic into Woodstock, I was contacting likely looking local artists and inviting them to give their services completely free of charge and totally at their own expense! Lo!... and Behold! - Sara was not only able and willing to meet these exacting requirements, she also hung around after her set talking to everyone and she actually lent her guitar to a total stranger to do an ad hoc performance during the proceedings which in the event turned out to totally random - haphazard, even - in the true Woodstock tradition. Sara sang a few songs of her own composition which everyone present showed much appreciation for, but I believe it was her quiet and quirky rendition of Donovan's Season of the Witch which [which witch?] convinced the cogniscenti amongst us that here was a talent worth watching.

'Twas not long ere, sadly for Brighton, Sara upped sticks and moved to our Sister City, Bath and eventually settled in Frome [ pronounced Frooooooooooom, for those who don't know]. Her career has blossomed and fruited into a pretty good all-round musician, event organiser, radio presenter, spiritual guru and what-have-you. Luckily, for moi, we have stayed in touch - thank you Sara for putting up with my sniping at your various webpages from the sidelines - and at long last she has sent me a record for review!

Let me get my little quibble out the way to start with - and then no more need be said on the subject - the packaging is not exactly exciting and attractive - it has a rather ordinary layout and track listing with little further information and a very old-fashioned [rather than 'retro']   picture of Sara and her guitar [a drab colour version of the above].  A quick visit to any of her sites [I'd pick Facebook]  will reveal any number of much more attractive shots.

 https://www.facebook.com/media/albums/?id=303943583003634#!/SaraCoffieldPersonal 

It's an EP - entitled.. well not actually entitled anything, which I think is sad. The first track is called 'Wild, Free and Beautiful' - a song which Sara has been singing and developing for quite a long time now and I suspect she, Dylan-like, sings quite differently from performance to performance as she's that kind of girl. She's more than the obvious folk singer/songwriter which the record sleeve portays her as - she's actually quite the jazzer as the second track 'Love Be with Us!' illustrates.

This brings me on to the spiritual aspect of Sara Coffield. She never really quite defines what this is but frequently hints in her public utterances that this is a very important aspect of her being. But not in an intrusive way, which old cynics such as I would not handle particularly  benignly. She is more the type of person who seems to want to just share her joy in living.. and I have to say it's catching and rather beautiful.

Track three, 'Bless My World' reinforces this message and compliments the listener with plaintive offerings such as "You're a crazy genius......I really, really like you.." - who can possibly resist responding positively to that?

The EP winds up with 'Trickster' - a medium paced moody enquiry into our motives vis-a-vis what?I'm not sure but the enigmatic question is posed just the same.

Despite, or more probably because of, the rather strange abrupt ending to that last track in particular and hence the EP, one is left wanting more.. a lot more.

I'm really, really pleased to be able to give the thumbs up to a record release from Sara after such a long friendship. She deserves wider recognition and certainly stands head and shoulders above a number of currently adulated female [male too] so-called folk singers.

Dada da Dada / Dub'n'Tuff Allstars

I just got sent a couple of trax from Dada da Dada of the Dub'n'Tuff Allstars asking me to play them on my Radio Show, unbeknownst to them that my mental health has kept me away from such activity for some time now. Anyway I like them so much I thought I'd give them a mini-review......

Reggae Don't Pay: This is a rather raucous ska-based number which bumps along in a way that calls for you go get up and get down, if you know what I mean. A really sharp-dressed record, with a great little soprano sax solo in the break. Beats any modern reggae you get from mainstream radio - the band seems to be almost a reggae orchestra - I guess I ought to get out and see them.

David is a pretty standard dub-israelite-exodus-type thang which is totally excellently produced that you'd think you were listening to one of the world's top-flight reggea combos.

Not a lot more to say other than I mightily impressed - check out their pages @ https://www.facebook.com/#!/dadadadada69 and listen to some other tunes @ http://www.reverbnation.com/thedubntuffallstars

I'll be doing just that quite often from now on!

Psychedelia grooves again

Had a fabulous night yesterday at The Real Music Club's Psychedelic Evening staged at The Green Door Store underground at Brighton Station.

Two bands were on show and they displayed 2 distinct styles in the development of space music.

First we witnessed The Plastic Sturgeons who presented a set of improvised space rock in the true psychedelic style of, say Hawkwind or Pink Floyd. 

In fact, a number  of members of the group have connections with Hawkwind and the various bands it's spawned over the years. Notably the captain of tonight's crew was Steve Swindells previously of Hawkwind and The Hawklords.

The music was exciting and swang comfortably through traditional space-rock, electronica and funk-based tunes with ease. With the exception of one song which used vocals in a beat  poetry type stylee, the music was all purely instrumental - always a plus in my estimation and something we don't get often enough.

Sadly the audience for The Plastic Sturgeons was minimal - probably not many more than about 30 bods and all of these were of the generation that lived through the original Space Rock Era. This was sad because the second act - The Space Agency - drew a much larger crowd as it took to the stage. These were largely of a much younger generation - probably the current student scene. It would have been nice for them to have witnessed their elders getting down and dirty.

That was quiet ironic because the music that The Space Agency plays is firmly rooted in an even earlier era than the space rock of The Plastic Sturgeons.  The Space Agency clearly draws its influence from the "Space and Surf " styles of bands such as The Ventures, The Shadows, The Spotniks, The Tornados and The Wakikis.

It was truly inspiring to find a young band mining such a neglected musical vein from nearly fifty years ago and taking it, applying new technology and producing a music that sounds so fresh, exciting and appropriate to a new age.

In fact, the music was so inspirational that quite a number of the audients chose to strut their stuff on the dance floor - and not all of these were members of the younger generation. A few elderly gents took to the floor and hopefully did not find themselves in traction by the time dawn broke.

The Space Agency are a high quality band which is tight and thrilling to watch. I hope very much that they will be around for a long time and are able to find lines of progression that will enable them to develop some totally new fields of musical exploration so they might be remembered as one of the interstellar ground breakers of the future.

 

A word must be said abouta third star of the evening's show - that is Cliff Dowding's Lighting Extravaganza which added an updated version of the old coloured oil on projector slides as a visual backdrop to the superb night of psychedelia. 

 

more photos at facebook

State of the Music Industry - I wsh!!!!

PARADISE9 – STATE OF THE NATION

 

One could be forgiven if one saw this lot lounging on the steps of the local war memorial for dismissing them as a group of hardened alco-ex-jobseekers-now long-term benefit fraudsters. They certainly do a good impression of being just that…

They turn out to be, however, none other than top space/punk rock  beatsters Paradise9. And they’re here today to introduce to you their latest cd/ep ‘State of the Nation.’

Regular followers of ZigZag Wanderings will be aware that I can be frequently found singing their praises either on disc or at gig. They really are my number one fave artists. This one’s been available for a little while now but one thing and another has got in the way of me giving it a proper going over for you.

The compact EP format gives me a welcome opportunity to give you my track-by-track assessment of what’s in the package.

I must tell you before launching into the critique, that the record was mastered by Andy Jackson, who was responsible for Floyd’s ‘Division Bell’ album  and engineered, mixed and co-produced [with Gregg McKella]  by Steve Rispin – who must be held to account for various product by Asia, Uriah Heep, Focus and Wishbone Ash.

More importantly it contains the very last studio work by Judge Trev, famed for his role in forming Nik Turner’s Inner City Unit , Brighton’s Real Music Club and a big name in the festival circuit. Trev, sadly, passed away last year after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. He will be fondly remembered as the ultimate ageing hippie [and I mean that as a compliment]  by all who ever saw him performing or just enjoying somebody else’s music.

Track 1 – title track ‘State of the Nation’ is one of P9’s social comment type thangs which have  been so highly acclaimed  in the past [cf back catalogue: Nothing for Tomorrow, These Days]. Post punk anthem in a Strummeresque vain.” State of the Nation. Out of control. State of the Nation.  Hitting an all time low.”  And so say all of us….

Track 2 – ‘Is This the Time’  seems to be more personal politics than national crisis. It’s a quirky little ditty that gives this collection a direction which is quite different to any of the other three. In fact that illustrates the power of P9 – they are just totally not happy to remain in any one groove for more than the duration of a single song. Which begs the question – why don’t Paradise9 release everything they do as a single – they’d be feeding several markets at once and would sooner or later score a bull’s eye which would catapult them to fame and glory and they could abandon gigging in sweaty little holes around Brighton…wait a minute – that’s not a good idea at all – forget I said that.

Track 3 - ‘Ocean Rise’ is probably my favourite track on the record – it’s proper spacial psychedelia – the like of which you might expect to hear from Amon Duul II. It heavily features Gregg McKella [the maestro of the group] blowing on his somewhat electronically modified clarine. Speaking as a old time progger, both feet firmly planted in the Van Der Graaf Generator camp, there just can’t be enough music in this vein.  Comes complete with seagulls and breaking waves – nice!

Track 4 – ‘Distant Dreams’ – a real hippie visionary song,  a la Donovan or String Band maybe, so suitable for a sunny afternoon at a local festival and appropriately one on which Judge Trev plays trippy acoustic guitar meanderings – beautiful wishful thinking!

 

So, to sum up, Paradise9 maintain their unassailable place as number one alternative popsters in my book at least. Check ‘em out and see if they’re your faves too!

State of the Music Industry - I wsh!!!!

PARADISE9 – STATE OF THE NATION

 

One could be forgiven if one saw this lot lounging on the steps of the local war memorial for dismissing them as a group of hardened alco-ex-jobseekers-now long-term benefit fraudsters. They certainly do a good impression of being just that…

They turn out to be, however, none other than top space/punk rock  beatsters Paradise9. And they’re here today to introduce to you their latest cd/ep ‘State of the Nation.’

Regular followers of ZigZag Wanderings will be aware that I can be frequently singing their praises either on disc or at gig. They really are my number one fave artists. This one’s been available for a little while now but one thing and another has got in the way of me giving it a proper going over for you.

The compact EP format gives me a welcome opportunity to give you my track-by-track assessment of what’s in the package.

I must tell you before launching into the critique, that the record was mastered by Andy Jackson, who was responsible for Floyd’s ‘Division Bell’ album  and engineered, mixed and co-produced [with Gregg McKella]  by Steve Rispin – who must be held to account for various product by Asia, Uriah Heep, Focus and Wishbone Ash.

More importantly it contains the very last studio work by Judge Trev, famed for his role in forming Nik Turner’s Inner City Unit , Brighton’s Real Music Club and a big name in the festival circuit. Rev, sadly, passed away last year after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. He will be fondly remembered as the ultimate ageing hippie [and I mean that as a compliment]  by all who ever saw him performing or just enjoying somebody else’s music.

Track 1 – title track ‘State of the Nation’ is one of P9’s social comment type thangs which have  been so highly acclaimed  in the past [cf back catalogue: Nothing for Tomorrow, These Days]. Post punk anthem in a Strummeresque vain.” State of the Nation. Out of control. State of the Nation.  Hitting an all time low.”  And so say all of us….

Track 2 – ‘Is This the Time’  seems to be more personal politics than national crisis. It’s a quirky little ditty that gives this collection a direction which is quite different to any of the other three. In fact that illustrates the power of P9 – they are just totally not happy to remain in any one groove for more than the duration of a single song. Which begs the question – why don’t Paradise9 release everything they do as a single – they’d be feeding several markets at once and would sooner or later score a bull’s eye which would catapult them to fame and glory and they could abandon gigging in sweaty little holes around Brighton…wait a minute – that’s not a good idea at all – forget I said that.

Track 3 - ‘Ocean Rise’ is probably my favourite track on the record – it’s proper spacial psychedelia – the like of which you might expect to hear from Amon Duul II. It heavily features Gregg McKella [the maestro of the group] blowing on his somewhat electronically modified clarine. Speaking as a old time progger, both feet firmly planted in the Van Der Graaf Generator camp, there just can’t be enough music in this vein.  Comes complete with seagulls and breaking waves – nice!

Track 4 – ‘Distant Dreams’ – a real hippie visionary song,  a la Donovan or String Band maybe, so suitable for a sunny afternoon at a local festival and appropriately one on which Judge Trev plays trippy acoustic guitar meanderings – beautiful wishful thinking!

 

So, to sum up, Paradise9 maintain their unassailable place as number one alternative popsters in my book at least. Check ‘em out and see if they’re your faves too!

Afterplanesman

NICK PYNN: AFTERPLANESMAN

Roundhill Music Round004

https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=626051768

www.nickpynn.co.uk

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/afterplanesman/id294063118

 

 

I’ve written reviews of albums and gigs by or involving Nick Pynn a number of times before, and although this is quite an old record, I’ve just recently acquired it – I won it in a Raffle at a Real Music Club event – I think it’s so good it deserves a review if only to encourage you, Dear Reader, to check it out.

Nick is one of those guys whom you envy because of his seemingly limitless energy and ability to adapt every new thing he discovers into his way of living with consummate ease and make it appear that it’s always been there. In this way we find that his thoughts and feelings while spending time on a WW1 submarine restoration project are translated into the album’s title track ‘Afterplanesman’ and almost unintentionally a number of very diverse tunes manage to contrive to form a concept album.

Not only does Nick manage to play every one of his vast collection of historic instruments and  self-built musical imaginings as if they were incorporated into his body at birth but the diversity of styles he applies to them is mind-blowing. Thus we have tracks which sound that they belong in the age of Baroque, or maybe a flamenco club, are sound tracks for the 1960s TV series ‘Tales from the Riverbank,’  or that wouldn’t be out of place on early Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd albums.

Maybe the strangest track on this album is ‘Joker Jack’ which takes a field recording of a poker game where comedian Rich Hall [whose band Otis Lee Crenshaw and the Black Liars, Nick was once part of] is the dealer and overlays a gentle but appropriate string soundtrack – it’s a complete one-off but works so well that it’s not way out of place here.

Nick is a polymath of music, if I may be allowed that phrase, and deserves to be more widely known outside the circles in which he moves [where he is rightly acclaimed] so if you haven’t yet sampled his wares, I suggest that next time you want to explore musical pastures new you Google Nick or  rifle through the racks at your nearest PROPER record shop and pick out one of his cds to listen to – this one would be an excellent choice for starters!

A Matter of Labelling

Rebecka Larsdotter: Feathers & Concrete

Prophone: PCD113

It’d be interesting to know how this excellent album will ever find its most appropriate audience as record company Prophone classifies it as ‘Swedish Jazz’ – which might be OK for many parts of Europe but I feel English listeners would possibly be more inclined to classify it as singer/songwriter soft progrock/funk slow groove easy listening.

Although some of the instrumental sections do sound a bit Weather Reportish the songs themselves largely sound more in a Carole King/James Taylor bag to me and Rebecka’s fine voice is definitely more Maria Muldaur than Cleo Laine.

This just highlights the problems surrounding labelling music into the ghettos we call genres. Prophone is already saddled with the somewhat esoteric Eurojazz epithet, so I feel UK audiences would probably never come across this superb album. I know of no outlet which is liable to highlight it to any but the most tenacious of bulldog-like musical explorers. I would never have expected such material on this label and had Naxos not sent it to me for review I would never have discovered it.

Whether or not it is really the current sound of Swedish Jazz is irrelevant; my point is that this album deserves a much wider audience than the genre will earn it. It deserves to be aimed at a more general adult pop/rock public than it will be with this release.

Maybe if this ‘review’ stirs a big enough body of listeners  to explore the album or even buy it, then Prophone might think again and give Feathers and Concrete a second more general launch and I shall have done my duty.

 

Go to http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Prophone/PCD113 to give the album a listen

and find Rebecka on Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/people/Rebecka-Larsdotter/1108793727#!/profile.php?id=1108793727

OIL GEEV EET FOIV

 OIL GEEV EET FOIV

Krzyszof PENDERECKI: Viola Concerto, Cello Concerto No.2

Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Antoni Wit

Grigori Zhislin, Viola  Tatjana Vassiljeva, Cello    NAXOS 8.572211

 http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572211

When I come into contact with a recording of a Penderecki piece I'm not familiar with, I usually stand in awe and put it to one side before I get to give it a listen. This is because I still think of his work as being somewhat inaccessible and difficult. In this case I have lingered even longer because I had it in the back of my mind that if I didn't make a decent fist of reviewing this CD, I'd probably give up reviewing as a bad job for good [if you see what I mean!]

So encouraged by a recent remark by one Mr Daniel Marcus Clark, musician, poet/songwriter and storyteller extraordinaire that he'd missed reading my reviews as they'd given him some enjoyment in the past, I decided to wait for a day when I had satisfied myself that I could write something and be at least half pleased with it and then get out the Penderecki and give it a shot. That day has come......

                                  ...and do you know what? I'm not finding listening to the disc and finding something intelligent [at least I think so] to say too difficult at all. I have taken the easy route. Instead of listening from the start which means tackling the Viola Concerto first, I've kicked off with the Cello Concerto as this is my favourite classical instrument [possibly excluding timpani and gongs] and number the Elgar and Dvorak cello concertos among my favourite works.

The work is almost easy listening by Penderecki standards. Yes it resounds with all sorts of squeaks and honks, and vast sudden differences in volume and intensity, as one might reasonably expect from this composer but the flow of the piece seems to fall into something of an easily identifiable 'narrative' which leaves one feeling empathetic with and uplifted by the writer's intentions even before reading the programme notes to see if it's actually about anything in particular, which I will leave you to find out for yourself.

The Viola Concerto starts off with an altogether darker, I might say even morose, vibe about it. We're in far more familiar Penderecki country here. But even here there is excitement and storytelling - an almost filmic approach to composition, I feel. i'd love to see the short movie of this one - even in a purely abstract form - you know - one of those 50/60s jumpy black and white arthouse things with all squiggles and dots interspersed with underexposed flashes of pervy men in raincoats and trilby hats peering round doors into darkened rooms...

Getting back to some sort of reality - I think this is just about the most instantly accessible Album by Penderecki I've come across - and would recommend it on the strength of this alone - it would make a gentle introduction to a very complex and sometimes downright difficult composer who is well worth the effort getting to know. Further than that, the sound quality is top notch and the performance is great too. If I were the star-awarding type, I'd have no hesitation in giving this one five.