Click here to read my review of the forthcoming album ‘Fever and Chills’ by the fabulous Powerkompany on the subba-cultcha website.
Still Waters – Breakbot January 27, 2016
Click here to read my review on the subba-cultcha.com website of the forthcoming album ‘Still Waters’ by Breakbot.
Adam French, Sam Griffiths and Crispin Halcrow – The Basement, City Screen, York – Tuesday 26th January 2016
I haven’t been to the Basement at City Screen for sometime so it was good to be back. Especially as this was a show recommended by my good mate Simon Pattinson. He has never let me down with those recommendations and tonight certainly maintained his 100% record!
First on start was Crispin Halcrow, although he seemed a little nervous at first he finished his set with confidence. I heard something of Teddy Thompson and Seth Lakeman in him. He certainly knows how to write a song, “Charcoal” is beautiful and it is about remembering. Crispin also introduced us to Phoebe the ukulele for a very well performed cover of the Mama’s And Papa’s hit “Dream A Little Dream”. This lad from Kendal is one to watch.
Next under the stage lights was Sam Griffiths ably supported by Bradley Blackwell (I hope I got that name right). He kicked off with a song that he introduced as being a song about a Bob Dylan album, it is called “Blood On The Tracks“. Dylan got another mention later in the set when Sam suggested that he had ripped off the great Mr Zimmerman with a song called “Shelter Of The Storm”. That ripped off reference was very much tongue in cheek and I think the song is superb and given airplay I would say it has big hit written all over it. Sam’s songs are all well-developed and mature. In particular a song inspired by the David Lynch film ‘Lost Highway‘ called “Camera” which was my favourite from Sam’s set.
The first two acts were damned good but Adam French took it to another level completely. The likes of James Bay and Hozier are indeed very talented but I think Adam knocks the socks off them. His songs are incredibly well constructed and given how sublime they sound in a solo setting I believe they would be even better with a band. Adam is a multi instrumentalist utilising guitar, keyboard and bass guitar. “Hunter” was accompanied by Mr French on bass guitar and worked so very well. Will Adam French write a classic song? I think he already has at least two in the haunting “Silhouette” and the gorgeous “Ivory”. I have been going to gigs for more than 40 years and this was probably one of the finest small club sets that I have ever seen. Forget about all that X Factor rubbish, if music has a future then it is in the hands of very talented people like Adam French. I urge you to check him out on-line or live when you get the chance. I sense that his days of playing small intimate gigs like this may well be numbered. He will, I am sure, be coming to you on a much bigger stage very soon. I would also like to add that he is a great bloke too having had a few drinks with him after the show along with his Mum and other friends and family.
Public service announcement! The photos of Crispin, Sam and Bradley were sourced on line and those of Adam were taken on my trusty Nokia phone.
Introducing the magnificent Northern Exposure webzine! January 26, 2016
I am such a tart when it comes to writing about music! Well maybe not but I do love all kinds of music and I am really proud to be involved in a small way with the launch of a fantastic new webzine by the amazing Rachel Brown. The webzine is called Northern Exposure and you can find it by clicking here. The first piece I have written for Rachel was about David Bowie, now that won’t be a surprise to regular readers. To read my article click here.
Get yourself some tickets to the launch party! I might see you there!
Anyway check out Northern Exposure and let Rachel know what you think! You will not be disappointed it really is a great site and a great read!
As the site is new and I contributed a David Bowie song there was only ever going to be one video on this post. It’s the late Dame himself with “Absolute Beginners”
subba-cultcha.com – check it out!
In addition to this and my other blogs I have recently started doing some album and gig reviews for the wonderful subba-cultcha site. Check out the site itself by clicking here. If you love music you will not be disappointed. I have also put links to all the reviews that I done so far below, starting with twelve album reviews and followed by a gig review. I would appreciate your views on those too.
Bad Pollyanna – The Broken Toys
Jeb Loy Nichols – Ya Smell Me?
Shearwater – Jet Plane And Oxbow
Jenny Gillespie – Cure For Dreaming
The Wild Wild – Into The Sea, Into The Stars
Alien Ant Farm – Live at the Duchess in York earlier this month
“Don’t worry ’bout a thing, cos every little thing’s gonna be alright”
This is the second in what I hope will develop into a long running series of establishments that make tasteful and excellent use of songs, lyrics and references in their shop, café or whatever. I kicked off with the Inkwell in Gillygate, York. Now I would like to say a big hello to Circles Cafe on Lendal Bridge in York.
The café has a brilliant mural in the snug area of some lyrics taken from Bob Marley‘s marvellously upbeat “Three Little Birds“. You can see this in the lead photograph in this post.
Circles is a cosy little place that serves excellent cakes and sandwiches and especially good coffee. Other beverages are also available. When the weather is good you can even sit outside. If you’re coming to York by train this is a wonderful place to stop off on your walk into the city or on your walk back to the station. Or maybe you could even stop in both directions!
If you would like to recommend any other places that make good use of song titles or lyrics, they do not have to be cafe’s, then please let me know.
“Get sick, get well hang around an inkwell”
This is the first in what will hopefully become an a series, albeit with occasional posts. That said there will definitely be at least one more coming very soon. I have been in a few shops and cafe’s recently where the owners clearly have some good musical taste. Two of these are in my home city of York, so I thought that I would start with one of those.
The Inkwell on Gillygate takes its name from a lyric in Bob Dylan’s 60s classic “Subterranean Homesick Blues“. It is a fantastic little shop. You can buy new and re-release vinyl, new and secondhand books, record players and a few other curios too. The shop and all who work there are passionate about music and pop culture. Despite the Inkwell being relatively small they still put on a few excellent bands and artists every so often.
If you have never been there and you live in York then shame on you. If you plan on visiting York and you would like to visit the Inkwell you can find it at 10 Gillygate just outside the city wall. You can also find them on all the usual places including Facebook.
If you come across any other places that use excellent lyrics in their store or their name feel free to let me know.
Black Lagoons, Broken Skulls, Mall Rats & Blind Eye – The Crescent, York – Friday 22nd January 2016 January 23, 2016
I once again had the pleasure of attending a gig set up by the fabulous Northern Radar a.k.a Simon Pattinson. It was at the Crescent in York a new community venue that I have not been to before. As usual with Simon’s shows the quality was top-notch. I have been to many gigs arranged by Simon and so far there has not been a bad one. No pressure for next time then Simon! Tonight’s bill featured two bands that I have seen before and two that were new to me. Incidentally it was great to catch up with Jordan Bell off of Avalanche Party, Mike Harrison, Joe Alexander and obviously Mr Pattinson himself.
The proceedings were kicked off by the majestic power trio known as Blind Eye who I have seen before, the boys were fresh from recording their EP at a studio in Manchester. They gave us a couple of new songs that in a few years I am sure will be seen as Blind Eye classics; “Stained Glass Windows” and “Vultures”. Along with some of their older songs they also performed one of their customary covers, this time it was a thunderous run through of the Beatles classic “Come Together”. They even managed to incorporate a few lines of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” into the song. This band is truly fucking awesome, their EP I am sure will be off the scale good.
OK now I want you to imagine a band that is a cross between the Velvet Underground with all of Andy Warhol’s arty-farty stuff removed and then crossed with Nirvana. Can you picture that? Good now think of that band’s drummer being a reincarnated John Bonham (not because they look the same but that they share the same pounding power. Do you have the picture in your mind? Can you imagine the sound that such a band would make? Excellent because that band Ladies and Gentlemen is the Mall Rats. A brilliant band whose closing song “Plunge Pool” was one of the most moshtastic of the whole evening.
The third act on tonight was another York band that I have seen before, the truly stupendous Broken Skulls. These two brothers come across like the Kings Of Leon genetically spliced with Royal Blood and then injected with a massive testosterone booster. How can two people make such a loud but beautiful noise? I really don’t know but they do. Maybe we need to ask them how they do it. Anyway it would be fair to say that they really owned the stage during their set.
I have not had the pleasure of witnessing a show by the Black Lagoons before tonight so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Even more so when I cast my eyes on the band for the first time. The majority of them have probably never seen a razor. Not because they are hirsute with resplendent facial hair but because I don’t believe that some of them have started shaving yet. But don’t let that put you off, for whatever age they are, and frankly I don’t care, they are a stunning live act. What do they sound like? That is a difficult question to answer, but it is almost as though they have invented a new genre of music which I will call Prog Punk (or possibly Punk Prog). These lads can only get better in my opinion and they are very damned good already. I tried to imagine the Queens Of The Stone Age as a school band and that captured a degree of what the Black Lagoons are. On top of that they have a reborn Keith Moon on drums and the coolest, most serious faced bass player since John Entwistle. I recommend that you check out all of tonight’s bands. No wait I don’t recommend that you do it, I order you to do it!
Public Service announcement all the pictures were taken by me and the videos are courtesy of YouTube. However I couldn’t find a Mall Rats video, so if you can send me the link to one then feel free to do so 🙂
Jeb Loy Nichols – Long Time Traveller January 20, 2016
Until just a few weeks ago I had no idea who Jeb Loy Nichols was. I had the opportunity to review his recently released mini album ‘Ya Smell Me?’ for the Subba-Cultcha site (click here to read it). So having only just discovered this American who lives in Wales I need to make up for lost time.
So let’s start with a forthcoming reissue of his album ‘Long Time Traveller’, which originally found limited release in Japan in 2010. The album is produced by Adrian Sherwood and features members of both the Dub Syndicate and the Roots Radics. My first exposure to Jeb suggested that he is an excellent purveyor of country soul, which he clearly is. However I am very pleasantly surprised to say that he is also a talented country/ dub fusion artist. Is there another person in that genre? Somehow I doubt that there are many.
As a teenager I loved reggae and dub but I disliked country, largely because my parents liked it (oh that ridiculous teenage rebelliousness) . But as I have got older I have learned to love much country music. The combination of country and dub doesn’t sound like it would work, well not on paper anyway. But on record (or CD in my case) it works bloody well. This album is definitely going to soundtrack some afternoons in my garden this summer.
The songs are infectious especially “Lonely King Of The Country”, “Poor Man’s Prayer” and “To Be Rich (Should Be A Crime)”. Although I am not sure that I agree entirely with the sentiments of the last one. The extra disc I have with my copy has some great alternate mixes of seven of the albums songs. All very good but the main album mixes are more preferable to me. Disc two also has four songs not on the album of which “Salt Of A Fallen Tear” is stupendous. All credit to the On-U Sound label for getting this out there.
If you fancy something a bit different then buy this album, I love it and I hope that you do too. I hope to see Jeb live sometime soon. Why are artists like him not performing to bigger audiences? He needs to be heard!
“Planet Earth is blue and there’s nothing I can do……” – David Bowie RIP January 11, 2016
By now you will all know that David Bowie died yesterday aged just 69. The outpouring of grief from across the world is immense. But whilst everyone from Kanye West to David Cameron have expressed their condolences it is really about the thousands of fans who will each miss Bowie in their own way. I was pretty much lost for words this morning, in fact I still am. I feel numb and I have shed a few tears too. I never knew David Bowie, in fact I never met him, but I was lucky enough to see him play ten times from 1976 to 2004. I wanted to see him in 1972, when I was just 13, but my Dad wouldn’t allow me to see that “bloody weirdo”. However he did let me go and see the Jackson 5, which given the way Jacko and Bowie’s lives panned out is somewhat ironic.
I first became interested in pop music in the late 60s aged 8 or 9. I do remember hearing “Space Oddity” when the BBC used it as part of the soundtrack to the Apollo 11 mission. But I can’t say that I was a Bowie fan from then. My first real taste of Bowie was, like many of my contemporaries and peers, with the Top of the Pops appearance in July 1972 when he sang “Starman” backed by the Spiders From Mars. Clearly I would only have seen it in black and white but my memory is in colour. There was the classic moment where Bowie put his arm around Mick Ronson. That weekend I raided my pocket money savings and bought four Bowie albums on cassette; ‘Space Oddity’, ‘ The Man Who Sold The World‘, ‘Hunky Dory’ and, to give it its full title ‘ The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars‘. I played those albums until they wore out and I have replaced them many times since in both vinyl and CD form.
I first saw David Bowie play live in 1976 as part of the tour in support of ‘Station To Station’ . I think that show was at Earls Court in London. I have never seen a bad show from the man, including the Glass Spider tour in 1987. The show at Wembley that year was bloody good. My favourite Bowie gig was at the Phoenix Festival in 1996. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as he came on to a darkened stage and played the acoustic intro to “Quicksand” and then the lights blasted on as he began to sing. A truly awesome moment.
I have said on many occasions that I wasn’t too keen on his 1980s output, in particular the ‘Tonight’ album from 1984. But as a dedicated fan I have the CD version of that album which includes “Too Dizzy” a track Bowie disliked so much that he had it removed from later CD issues. As for Tin Machine, well that was perhaps a bit Marmite, but I love those two Tin Machine albums. His recording career really got properly back on track for me with ‘1: Outside’ from 1995. I still wonder what might have happened had he completed the other two albums in the Nathan Adler trilogy. My favourite Bowie album changes over time, but I always go back to ‘Diamond Dogs’ and ‘Young Americans’. I am so very happy that his last album ‘Blackstar’ released just a few days ago on his 69th birthday has received such good reviews, because no doubt it will sell even more now he has passed away. That’s just the way things go isn’t it?
Personally I wasn’t a big fan of Bowie the actor, but “The Man Who Fell To Earth” is a brilliant film. I also wished that I could have seen his performance as the Elephant Man on the New York stage too. ‘Labyrinth’ was in my opinion not a great film, however it really turned a completely new generation on to the genius of Bowie so it can’t have been all bad. Other acting gems for me were maybe ‘The Hunger’ and the cameo in Ricky Gervais‘ Extras comedy series.
Bowie made it ok to be different, to be an outsider, he made it cool to not have to be part of a gang. He will probably remain the most influential and innovative artist that there has ever been. I can see no one who could even come close to touching him on that. He will live on with the legacy he has left. My thoughts are with Iman, Lexi and Duncan along with all those that knew him well and all the thousands of fans across the world. Clearly his death is not on the same scale as say my father’s death was for me in 2001, however it has still hit me hard. Cancer is a proper fucking bastard isn’t it?
I would like to close with the message that Tony Visconti published today; “He always did what he wanted to do. And he wanted to do it his way and he wanted to do it the best way. His death was no different from his life – a work of Art, he made Blackstar for us, his parting gift. I knew for a year this was the way it would be. I wasn’t, however, prepared for it. He was an extraordinary man, full of love and life. He will always be with us. For now, it is appropriate to cry.”
David Bowie RIP – “I don’t know where I’m going from here but I promise it won’t be boring”
Maybe there really is a Starman waiting in the sky now!
I have chosen one song from every one of his studio albums (sometimes live versions of them) to reflect on the life of my biggest hero. The intro for “Everyone Says Hi” is particularly pertinent
“Knowledge comes in death’s release” – Quicksand
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 