Every so often an act appears that you immediately think why are they not huge? For me, The Last Of The Fallen Angels are definitely in that category. The new single “Edge Of The World” is a sad, rolling, chilled tune that brings me great joy and sadness in equal measures. It takes a great tune to do that to me. It has an ethereal trip-hop choral feel to it and is most definitely cinematic in its scope and depth. It was written by Last Of The Fallen Angels main man Conrad McQueen with Victoria Owsnett a.k.a Victoria O who provides those gorgeous vocals. It was produced by Simon Ellis who shared all the musical instrument duties with Conrad. The video is a spectacular wide-screen take on the best of those 1970s science fiction films where humans set out to colonise another planet. This is not the first time I have featured The Last Of The Fallen Angels on these pages and it won’t be the last. Click here to stream this delightful and beautiful tune on Spotify.
This was originally planned, with a slightly different lineup, as Shezza’s Leaving Do. Shezza is of course Chris Sherrington who has decided to move on to different pastures after being at the rather wonderful Fulford Arms for quite a few years. And like many of us, Covid caught up with Chris so he was unable to be there for his leaving do! I am sure we all wish him a speedy recovery. Emerson, Lake and Palmer once said “Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends” (“Karn Evil 9” from the 1973 album ‘Brain Salad Surgery). Maybe the show that never ends will be Shezza’s Leaving Do. If it is I am sure it will be an absolute blast! A big shout out to Aron Murray of Vexed Music Photography for all the excellent pictures below.
Rowan – Photo by Aron Murray of Vexed Music Photography
Amy May Ellis – Photo by Aron Murray of Vexed Music Photography
Unfortunately, Luke Saxton had to pull out, so I hope you are better soon sir! First on stage was Rowan. This bloke does folk with a punk attitude. His songs are full of anger, sadness, and also fun, even though some of those tunes are incredibly short. He makes his acoustic guitar talk and the way he attacks it gives it a real percussive element too. “Scrap Heap Man”, now that is a song! Following Rowan was singer-songwriter Amy May Ellis, who I first saw at the York City Screen Basement back in 2016. I said this about her nearly six years ago, “She is a great talent with a haunting and siren-like voice which weaves the words of her songs with a soaring grace.” that comment remains true. Musically she writes and performs 21st Century ethereal folk music with one foot in the long history of English folk storytellers. Amy has a gorgeous voice that reminded me of Laura Kindelan and on some occasions, her vocal phrasings were reminiscent of Bjork. She also has a great style of banter with her audience too. Why did I wait nearly six years before seeing the immensely talented Amy May Ellis again? I don’t plan on leaving it to 2027 for my next live show from her!
50% of Seattle On The Mantle – Photo by Aron Murray of Vexed Music Photography
What the Dickens? 50% of Seattle On The Mantle – Photo by Aron Murray of Vexed Music Photography
Next was Seattle On the Mantle, this was the second time I have seen them. The first being in November last year when they were supporting Seagoth. Back then they were a four-piece but they seem to have lost a couple of band members since then as they appeared here as a two-piece. It definitely sounds like the split with the most recent bass player was somewhat acrimonious, but I won’t dwell on that, this is a gig review, not a gossip column right? The two members left played an absolute blinder of a set. This is a band quite like no other, although, that said, I did detect some small pockets of influence from the Libertines and the Velvet Underground. The only song from their drunkenly planned concept album (how prog it would be to make a one-song concept album?) was a musical highlight for me. Another highlight was perhaps having an ace drummer stood up behind an economical drum set which he played like a sticksman possessed while dressed as a character from a Dickens novel. Great songs from a truly entertaining band, a Seattle On The Mantle album, concept or not, is needed methinks!
Trueman – Photo by Aron Murray of Vexed Music Photography
The Indoor League’s very own Clarence Clemons – Photo by Aron Murray of Vexed Music Photography
In a recent review, I described tonight’s headliners Trueman and the Indoor League as a Pound Shop E-Street Band. When I first wrote that my wife said “you can’t say that, it’s mean”. I replied that I meant it in a good way and thankfully that is the way the band took it, something I discovered after speaking to a few of them. Anyway, after a stupendous set, it is fair to say that they are definitely more E-Street than Pulp. They are evolving into a band that puts on more of a full-on entertaining review than just a gig. “Flares” and “Frivolous Things” were my top picks from tonight’s show, but it was a hard choice indeed. Trueman is a veritable cultural commentator through his songs which are in most cases astute observations of ordinary life. I believe that this band has the potential to outgrow intimate grassroots venues and ultimately move up to Arenas. So in case that happens, and I hope it does, then you need to get out and see Trueman and the Indoor League at wonderful places like the Fulford Arms while you still can. I am really hoping for an album from this lot soon. One final question, if the band ever graduates to playing stadiums will they have to rename themselves Trueman and the Outdoor League?
All pictures, except the gig poster, were taken by Aron Murray, Head Honcho of Vexed Music Photography. The videos were found on YouTube. If the video is yours and you would like a credit or for it to be removed please let me know.
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Covid seemed to change the lineup for this Fulford Arms show every few hours, or was Vlad the Insane trying to prevent us from raising money for Ukraine? First This House Is Haunted dropped out with Covid and soon after that so did Cowgirl, I hope all the band members infected are now on the mend. This left the lineup as Captain Starlet (probably the next band name that I have heard in years and that is a typo in the gig poster. They definitely need to be on the same bill as the Mysterines, right?), Perspex, and the Black Lagoons. Sadly owing to me being at a York Literature Festival event earlier in the evening I missed Captain Starlet, although to be fair Magid Magid’s session at St Peter’s School was inspiring!
So first up for me was Perspex, a band that I saw for the first time last October as part of the Slow Education mini-festival at the Crescent in York. Back then I said “Perspex have a tank full of energy and probably a whole bunch of jerry cans full of the stuff too. At their peak, they sound like prime time Clash with vocal phrasings like Steve Harley. Who doesn’t love Perspex?” Tonight they came across like the Velvet Underground on copious amounts of E and a box of blues. After a slow and somewhat messy start and further fuelled by Guinness and shots they did get better. Singer Michael S. Cable tried hard to maintain that classic mean moody rock-star demeanour and mostly managed it. But when he let his guard down he was quite dryly amusing. Perspex are a great band, anyone who has seen them before can attest to that. However, this seemed like a sub-standard off night for them, well that is how it seemed to me. If I were crafting a school report for Perspex on this performance I would give them a C- and add “could do better” in the comments. But we all know Perspex can be an A+ band, don’t we?
The eventual headliners the Black Lagoons are a band that I have now seen five times in six years. They have an elegant rock swagger about them and they were really firing on all cylinders tonight. It may not have been a full house, but there was hardly anyone who wasn’t pushing to be near the stage. Black Lagoons have a long association with my favourite current band Avalanche Party and in fact three of the times I have seen them live they were supporting Jordan and the AP boys! Given the almost constant lineup and stage time changes, this was a stunning set from a great band. Psychedelic, punky, garage rock at its best! Probably the best I have seen them play, so far! Click here to stream their rather excellent new EP, ‘The Big Rock Candy Mountains’
All pictures, except the gig poster, were taken by me using my very cheap Chinese Android phone. The videos were found on YouTube. If the video is yours and you would like a credit or for it to be removed please let me know.
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Out Of Love are a full-on pop-punk band with masses of energy and passion for their music. This energy pulses through this excellent debut album like a life force. The opener “S.L.U.M.P” sets out the stall for the rest of the album with massive riffs, huge guitars, and big choruses. Most of the songs clock in at under 3 minutes and explore themes of identity and reflections on how life is now. “All Grown Up” has a flavour of Green Day and the angst of Sam Fender topped off by the original touches that the band brings to every song. “Play Pretend” has an interesting spoken introduction and a fantastic chorus. “Hello Trouble” has a more melodic approach and great vocal harmonies. “Sniffin’ Glue” has a touch of Nirvana and great lyrics. The final track “Kill Song” is for me the pick of the bunch. A great song to finish with combining a fantastic riff with a brilliant buzz bass sound. I imagine Out Of Love absolutely kill it live with their short sharp songs and huge passion. More, please!
Written by Paul Bamlett.
The album is scheduled for release on 8th April 2022 via Venn Records.
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On her latest EP, Kenyan composer and performer, Nyokabi Kariũki, skillfully brings together her Western classical music training and a mastery of African instruments. The music is experimental, imaginative and above all, takes us all on an emotional journey exploring her most cherished spots in and around Nairobi. At the time of composing ‘peace places’, she was living in the States and didn’t know when she’d be able to safely return to Kenya because borders were closed due to the pandemic. Kariũki shows us both the joyful moments of being home as well as the difficulties. “Peace maybe always does come with disconnect and dissonance and that’s still part of it, and maybe there’s a bit of home in that as well,” she says. As you listen to ‘peace places’, the tracks are engineered in a way that makes you feel like her memories of certain places are coming and going or sketchy. Distortion, echo, fadeouts, and drifting between four languages (Kiswahili, Kikuyu, Maa, and English), you get a real sense of this inner peace and at the same time the disconnect she refers to.
The EP was released in February this year through UK-based label SA Recordings. ‘peace places’ was recorded in Maryland and New Jersey and field recordings in all tracks taken in various places around Kenya. 6 compositions and 6 places, her ‘peace’ places. She leads us through compositions about a stroll through a farm, the ocean at dawn voices of family, contributions from close friends, the interwoven languages of home and heritage. In the opening piece and second single from the EP, ‘Equator Song’, Kariũki uses the chirping of a pair of Speke weaver birds as the backbone and sings sweet harmonies over the discordant squawking. Whilst she was travelling through Kenya, she was captivated by the chatter of the bright yellow weaver birds (pictured on the cover) and observed the disconnect between the birds’ fine feathers and rattling commotion, highlighting her growing sense of displacement. As she sings in English, Kariũki draws out the line “You’ll find my soul on someone’s tongue” – a suggestion of the plain fact and lingering pain of not being able to express herself in her native language, as a result of years of British colonial rule. On “A Walk Through My Cũcũ’s Farm” (cũcũ is the Kikuyu word for grandmother) a recording of a visit to her grandmother on Christmas Day 2020. It features a recording of her mother exclaiming in Kikuyu how difficult it is to pull an onion out of the ground. It’s a special memory for Kariũki, even if we aren’t familiar with the context or the language. The track also uses audio from a video she took while she and her brother tried to close the doors that housed her grandmother’s cows. Kariũki’s voice can be heard saying “Let it open, let it open,” though we aren’t directly told what’s being opened. The music paints a picture: cowbells ringing from goats or perhaps her grandmother’s cows, chirping birds, and various narrative sections. Throughout the track there is an underlying and anxious sounding electronic buzz, coming and going, sometimes hazy.
On “Galu”, the first single from the EP, released last year, percussionist Chris O’Leary recreates the sound of the ocean at dawn as Kariũki works and builds on a vocal that grows, evolves into harmonies as though her memory of this ‘peace place’ becomes clearer. At the same time, the drums become more solid and recognisable. Then as her memories fade, so do her vocals and the drums. “Galu” is a cleverly crafted composition, invoking her short yet erstwhile memories of home. A classically trained pianist, her interest in music grew from an early age – on the song “home piano”, Kariũki records herself improvising on the piano she’s had since she was 8. In a recent interview with ourculture magazine, she says that “The piano is still always going to be a peace place for me. Regardless of where I am, it’s just so familiar”. “Ngurumo” or “Feeding Goats Mangoes” centres on a specific task with conversation, choral vocals, thumb piano, and of course, goats. She talks often about how she includes recordings that she took with her phone, some of them were from videos that she was taking with her phone casually when on holiday. “Oh, I’m by the water or I’m in the village where my dad grew up, let me take a video…There’s this audio from a video of me and my brother feeding mango peels to some goats in the farm in my father’s hometown, because it’s like a fun, silly thing to do.”
Perhaps the most conceptually striking piece is the last one, “Naila’s peace place”, in which Kariũki’s friend Naila Aroni (who also painted the record’s artwork) records herself walking through Lamu on the Kenyan coast with a close friend. The town doesn’t allow cars—instead, boats or donkeys transport people. Kariũki hasn’t been there, but Aroni and her other friend visited and discussed how surreal and magical the town felt. “It doesn’t feel real this place, it just doesn’t…” says one of the voices. In the music, vocals and various voices swirl around a vibraphone and electronic fuzz. It’s meditative music and “It sounds like joy,” Kariũki says. Every track on this EP ventures to a different place using field recordings and vocals, audio from video as well as different percussion instruments, like kalimbas, mbira, piano, vibraphone, a drum set, and gyil (West African xylophone). ‘peace places’ has been a perfect springboard for Kariũki to explore her newfound interest in using electronic composition to celebrate Kenyan languages and places.
Written by Juan Brooks.
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JW Paris have just released their fourth single “Electric Candle Light” it is a supreme slab of dirty, scuzzy, fuzzed-up garage rock. There are influences here as diverse as Dr. Feelgood, Suede, early Libertines, Babyshambles, and even Ian Dury and the Blockheads. (I only learned after typing that previous comment that drummer Gemma Clarke played with Babyshambles from 2003 to 2005!) Aaron Forde bass and vocals) cites even more influences in his statement “We have drawn influence from all our favourite artists including Blur, Suede, Jack White, FOALS, Joy Division and Rolling Stones” Gemma (Drums) said of the track, “it has a mixture of dirty guitars and any analogue synth we could get our hands-on in the studio“. Danny Collins (vocals and guitar) said that “’Electric Candle Light’ is a futuristic-analogue-nostalgia fuelled track all about those nights where you seem to fall into a time-lapse and wish for those past better days” Lyrically it is pretty sharp, nostalgic, and quite funny, how can you not feel the passion and history in a line like “make a copy onto a floppy and allow me to drive” I challenge music fans to listen to this and not instantly love it as much as I do! Click here to stream it on Spotify.
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Outlaw – Sleeve Art – Credit Paul Evans, Painted Papillion Smile
Crowded House once told us “Don’t Dream It’s Over” and that should be a mantra for the good things in life. It is clear that uber talented York band followed that advice and have never given up their dream. Maybe that is helped by the experience of supporting Leeds United, but nonetheless, never lose your dreams people. Since reemerging on the scene a few years ago Skylights trajectory has been close to perpendicular. They have played some amazing support slots and for 2022 there will be the first album, homecoming shows at Acomb Working Men’s Club, A headline show at the O2 Academy in Leeds, and a support slot at Bridlington Spa with one of their heroes and influences, The Enemy.
skylights – live Leeds University – photo by Mark Tighe
Just to make things even better they release their latest single, “Outlaw” today, March 25th on 42’s Records. It is their most punk-inflected tune to date and in my opinion would make an amazing choice to open the album, although I am sure it is a bit late for this old bloke to influence that decision! It carries shades of New Order, Joy Division, and early Oasis, back in the days when the boys from Burnage were a great band. “Outlaw” is a live anthem in waiting and I can’t wait to hear the lads pump it out on stage. Click here to stream it on Spotify. I believe that this is the greatest Skylights single so far, and there have been some classics! Get this tune and this band in your life, NOW!!!
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The Dead South are a breath of fresh air. Their press release calls them an anomaly and that is a perfect description. A collision between the Carter Family and the Addams family as the press release continues. This so crazy it works version of a System Of A Down song just blew me away. Substituting the muffled rock sound of SOAD for banjos, mandolins, cellos, and guitars is a wacky idea that works so well. The stop-start nature of the original is maintained and the breathless quickfire vocals too. This then gives way to the full-throated harmony vocals on the slower section. The riff shouldn’t work but it absolutely does and these guys are very skilled in both picking and singing. This has to be one of the most refreshing off-kilter acts of inspired musical madness I’ve heard in a very long time. If you listen to other tracks by this band they are great but this particular song is on a different level. The Dead South are alive and well and hopefully coming to a venue near you very soon. Don’t miss them.
Click here to check out the parent album, ‘Easy Listening For Jerks Part 2’
Written by Paul Bamlett.
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The spanking new single from up-and-coming York band Pennine Suite hits the world on 25th March. I love its rather wonderful and almost eerie “ooh ooh” hook which stays with you long after you have listened to the song. Pennine Suite carries more depth of sound and are slightly less punky than the Receivers (who included three of the five members of Pennine Suite). “Pass On You” is reminiscent of some of the best early 80s post-punk and it epitomises pop-rock at its best. If I have any criticism it is simply that I think the track could be slightly longer than 2 minutes and 19 seconds. But as the band’s singer, Nick Aldous pointed out to me, you just need to play it twice, or more! I also think that someone with great remix skills could make a fantastic dance remix of this cracking song. I have heard the band play the song live and it comes across as a future classic. I recently interviewed Nick from the band, so look out for that appearing here sometime soon! Meanwhile, stream the hell out of “Pass On You”, don’t pass it by, pass it on! Click here to pre-save, pre-add, or pre-order and repeat play it as soon as it hits the streets!
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This was my first Northern Radar gig for a while, but would it be fair to say that Head Honcho Simon P put on a good show, after all, he has never let me down yet. You’ll need to read on to find out how he did with this one though. Unfortunately, original headliners, Sick Joy had to pull out owing to illness, and on top of that only two-thirds of Please Remain Calm were able to make it for similar reasons, their drummer and bass player were missing This meant that Please Remain Calm took the stage first for an acoustic set. But this was no subdued, quiet acoustic set, it was a stunning tour de force. Chloe’s voice has become a towering force of nature with hints of both Amy Lee and Bjork. The guitarist was spectacular while maintaining the cool, calmness, and style of Bernard Butler in his Suede prime. “Smoke And Mirrors” has the makings of a classic future anthem, as does “Fall Apart”. Their cover of the Howl and the Hum’s “Hostages” was sublime, emotional, soulful, and made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, truly a beautiful take on a fantastic tune. I am so looking forward to experiencing a fully amped-up electric set from Please Remain Calm soon!
Please Remain Calm
A new band to me, Sweet May was up next. This is another great band with a resurgent 70s rock style. The lead singer/ guitarist made me think of Paul Kossoff, both visually and through his splendiferous guitar licks. His voice was more Paul Rodgers than Paul Kossoff though. There is hard rock, blues, and a sprinkling of funk in Sweet May‘s sweet sounds. The funk element is courtesy of the superlative drum and bass partnership. On some of the more extended wig-outs, I sensed maybe a Uriah Heep vibe going on. Set closer “Insane” was truly insane, but in an astonishingly good way! I definitely want to see this band again.
Adrian – Vaquelin
Finally, it was time for headliners Vaquelin to storm the stage. After a few feedback issues during their opening number the band moved into a solid heavy rock groove playing songs from their stunningly good debut album, ‘Where Dreams Hurt‘. The band were headlining tonight as Sick Joy had to pull out. But one of the many things that I love about Vaquelin is that they seem to play every set like a headliner, personally, I would hate to be in a band that has to follow them! Callum told me later that he couldn’t hear his guitar for the whole show, presumably fall-out from the earlier feedback issues. But frankly, his playing was up to his usual Jimmy Pagesque best. Adrian was on fire in the vocals department and we need new song, “Broken Windows” to be recorded and released as soon as possible, that was a set highlight for me. Once again the bands showed that Led Zeppelin ‘Hammer Of The Gods’ power with a rhythm section forged in the depths of Asgard! I could watch this band again and again and so could their passionate fans who I previously named Vaquelinians. Well, I suppose I am a proud Vaquelinian too! Did I hear a rumour that they have another album in the pipeline? I hope so!
All pictures, except the gig poster, were taken by me using my very cheap Chinese Android phone. The videos were found on YouTube. If the video is yours and you would like a credit or for it to be removed please let me know.
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With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 