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The Cravats

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Venue:

The Star and Garter, Manchester

Date: 17/09/2017

The Cravats are a legendary Punk band hailing from Redditch – although to my ears they fit more in the Post Punk bracket of bands like Wire, Pere Ubu, Blurt and Magazine. Sham 69 they were not – not least because they had a Sax player and a big dash of Beefheart, Bonzos, psychedelia, garage rock and Jazz influences but infused with the violent energy of Punk. I first picked up on them via Jon Savage’s ‘There is No Such Thing as Society’ Punk compilation, and I’m a sucker for that combination of squealing Sax and loud guitars so I wasn’t about to miss this – not only presenting their first new material in 30 years but also, amazingly, their first ever gig in Manchester. It’s also an unusual gig in that there are no advance tickets, and it’s an early start and due to end around 9pm (well it is Sunday). The Star And Garter is a Manchester institution, a lovely old pub (which used to open at odd hours to quench the thirst of workers at the nearby railway station and parcel depot) with an upstairs room, with the » Continue Reading.

I said Captain..you said Wot?

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2006 was the year I met Ms Volume, and the soundtrack was a CD she convinced me I’d like. It was called ‘This is Hazelville’ by Captain, duly purchased on a lovely day out in York from Tracks Records (don’t go looking for it). She was right. It was big, clever, immaculately produced, shiny pop music – up there with The Blue Nile and Prefab Sprout but also with a grittier edge to it and louder guitars – and with the mighty Trevor Horn at the controls. All killer, no filler, sheer Pop perfection.

The album went Top 30, they had some minor hit singles and we saw a couple of superb gigs by them that felt very special. A second LP was recorded for EMI but after one promising single (Keep an Open Mind) EMI went through a ‘restructure’ shedding loads of artists in the process. The LP ‘Distraction’ remains unreleased..presumably in a vault somewhere.

Since then, I guess real life intervened – there have been births, and sadly the death of ace guitarist Mario Athanasiou. It’s in tribute to him that the band now have a new LP ready to release and you can pre-order now » Continue Reading.

The Necks

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Venue:

The White Hotel, Salford

Date: 27/08/2017

I know there’s a fair few Necks fans on here but if you’re not familiar they’re a hugely respected Sydney based experimental Jazz/Avant-rock trio now into their 30th year. Someone once described their oeuvre as ‘Trance Jazz’ which is pretty bang on. With just Drums, Piano and Stand-up Bass at their disposal they create long, extended pieces which tend toward hypnotic repetition – you won’t hear any soloing or noodling. In that sense The Necks are a perfect Jazz band for people like me who are a bit Jazz-sceptic – and if you like Krautrock, electronic/ambient music, Post-Rock and so forth you’ll be pleasantly surprised by The Necks.

Live, they’re not to be missed – don’t worry about the Set List – there isn’t one. The Necks will play two sets of around 40-45 mins each and it’s all improvised. Whatever they play will be unique to this night, never to be heard again. Last time I saw the band it was at Band on the Wall – a very appropriate venue for them with all the home comforts you’d expect for a class act like this, and their audience who » Continue Reading.

Housewives / Sly and The Family Drone

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Venue:

The Soup Kitchen, Manchester

Date: 26/08/2017

I took a punt on this gig – as according to Piccadilly Records I can expect “Clanging dissonance, slamming lo-fi drums and otherworldly sonic squeals.. with jazzy flourishes and a plethora of aural curveballs” – for £6? I’m in.

When I arrive at the venue, support band Sly the Family Drone are already in full swing- and have set up their instruments on the floor of the venue rather than use the stage – a Drummer, a Sax player and two people with FX pedals creating sonic mayhem with their voices and other sources. It’s insistent, rhythmic and noisy but not in a po-faced way and you’re invited to join in. Their shirtless leader encourages the audience to move closer and also join in on drums. It’s all messy, loud and fun – and with a name like that it’s no surprise they do a brisk trade in T Shirts.

Housewives set builds from silence – they’re gently scraping and picking away at their guitars and keyboards. Nobody seems to be playing a guitar in a conventional way (apart from the bass player) the instruments are heavily customised and played with » Continue Reading.

They’re Justified, and they’re Ancient, and they just parked their Ice Cream Van on Bold Street…

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Well it’s 23/8/2017 and as promised The KLF aka The JAMS aka The K Foundation aka K2 Plant Hire and whatever – are back back back. I’m not on the scene but apparently Drummond and Cauty pulled up in – yes – an Ice Cream Van on Bold Street, Liverpool about an hour ago. If you’ve not ‘across’ this story, basically 400 ‘volunteers’ have each paid £100 each to participate in a 3 day happening which starts now. It’s been pretty clear there will be no musical performance, this absolutely isn’t a KLF reunion gig and it certainly isn’t a music festival. I don’t know what the F**K is going on and nobody knows for sure.

The first event – by all accounts, is basically a book signing – although they’re rubber stamping books rather than signing and, amusingly, participants have been warned that anyone bringing any other memorabilia to be signed will have it confiscated and destroyed. (How about that Roger Waters and Ringo?) Tomorrow, those paying volunteers will be given ‘jobs’ to do followed by participating in various interventions and rites around various locations in Liverpool over the next 3 days. Apparently strong swimmers, guitarists and make-up » Continue Reading.

What shall we do with our Town Centres and High Streets?

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I like shopping for records. It’s become more fun in the last few years as there are Record Shops springing up again after a few years of them vanishing or the existing ones feeling rather desperate and sad. My local Indie shop Piccadilly Records is now buzzing like it was 20 years ago and there are queues at the till, and I’ve lots of other second hand shops to browse in, all of which are doing a brisk trade and feel a lot more upbeat.

That’s Manchester though. When I venture further afield to visit Record Shops in smaller towns and cities I see an increasing number of shuttered up shops, and a proliferation of Nail Bars, Tanning shops, Hairdressers, Charity Shops, Pound shops or empty shops pressed into service as a Community initiative or well meaning but somewhat half-arsed Art Project. I saw this today when I visited the excellent Skeleton Records in Birkenhead. Skelly’s was an oasis of wonderful treasures as always but outside it was grimmer than ever. It’s an inevitable result of people online shopping, people having less money to spend generally and also Supermarkets and out-of-town retail parks stealing a march on the traditional high » Continue Reading.

Scott Talks!

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Ahead of the BBC Prom performance there’s a very good interview with Scott with Jarvis Cocker. It would be an understatement to say he’s not one for looking back but for once he obliges for his old pal Cocker even going back to Walker Brothers days and his days as a jobbing bass player with the Surfaris as well as the solo albums, Bowie and his feelings about his old material being revisited.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08yx6vz

The Fall – New Facts Emerge

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What does it sound like?:

I don’t know about you, but I go through definite ‘phases’ in listening. Very unusually for me I’m currently listening to lots of ‘old’ that other people like – so on heavy rotation are Beggars Banquet, Liege and Lief, Court of the Crimson King, early Roxy, Tom Verlaine’s first album – and then all of a sudden @Bargepole wants me to review the new Fall LP (ironically he’d probably like a lot of my current playlist). So sorry ‘Rock Bottom’ and sorry ‘The Power and The Glory’ by Gentle Giant ….you’ll have to wait.

Seasoned Afterword / Word magazine readers will be interested to learn this LP does actually begin with what sounds like a drunk man shouting in a bus shelter (it is Mark E.Smith slurring into his dictaphone, possibly a home demo for track 1 – an insight into his songwriting process perhaps) and then it’s into latter-day Fall business as usual – a repeated garage riff, clattering drums, odd sound fx swirling around the mix. The line up is Greenway/Spurr/Melling who have backed Mark Smith almost as long as Hanley/Bramah/Wolstencroft. Here we go again.

Mark » Continue Reading.

New Order and Liam Gillick ∑(No,12k,Lg,17Mif)

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Venue:

Granada Studios

Date: 06/07/2017

Manchester International Festival can’t be accused of relying too much on the musical heritage of the city itself (previous MiFs have had musical input from the likes of Bjork, Kraftwerk, Massive Attack and so forth) however the spirit of Tony Wilson and Factory was always been bubbling under the surface and this year’s a bit more blatantly Factory/New Order related – as well as the New Order performances there is also a related art Exhibition ‘True Faith’ and tellingly the closing event (bringing Friedrich Engels back to Manchester..of course) is called Ceremony. New Order’s part is a series of shows at the old Granada Studios, an appropriate venue since of course this was where Tony Wilson presented ‘So it Goes’ and delivered The Sex Pistols to an unsuspecting public and Joy Division themselves made their first TV appearance here on Granada Reports. Inevitably the gigs sold out in a heartbeat, however, the MiF box office are in the habit of releasing last minute tickets on the day and sure enough I was able to bag one for tonight.

Stepping into the Granadaland studios, it’s a bit like the Old Grey Whistle Test – » Continue Reading.

Dutch Uncles

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Venue:

Trades Club, Hebden Bridge

Date: 01/07/2017

I bloody love this band. I go back with these guys. I’ve been going to their gigs since 2009 and they never fail to surprise and delight. They’re currently working their way around the festival circuit and although I’m pleased they are gradually reaching larger audiences this was a nice chance to see them in more intimate surrounds of the Trades Club. It’s a sell out crowd, hot and sweaty and the occasionally complex time signatures and Steve-Reich-esque poly-rhythmic xylophone work-outs don’t stop the crowd from cutting a rug – following lead singer Duncan’s lead who throws plenty of shapes up front. The band are now onto their 5th album, and have a considerable repertoire to choose from – they take heart from the fact newer songs from their latest ‘Big Balloon’ get an equally huge ovation as earlier material – nice to hear ‘Doppelganger’ from their debut LP and the title track from ‘Cadenza’ already sounding like classic stuff even though it’s a mere 5 years old. If you’re not familiar with the band, there’s a definite proggy angle to Dutch Uncles but think the poppier end of it – ‘Turn » Continue Reading.

The Beach Boys – 1967 Sunshine Tomorrow

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What does it sound like?:

This slightly confusingly presented compilation is basically a brand new stereo remaster of the Beach Boys ‘Wild Honey’, coupled with out-takes from the sessions and also those for Smiley Smile (which preceded it by just 3 months in September 1967) which is not included as that already had a stereo remaster a couple of years back. To complete the Beach Boys 1967 output you’ll need to get that disc to accompany this set if you haven’t already (but fair play to Capitol for not expecting fans to pay for the same disc again). On top of that you also get an official release of the much-bootlegged ‘Lei’d in Hawaii’ – a “live” album that was actually recorded in the studio and never saw the light of day – as well as contemporaneous live performances.

Wild Honey was only ever released in Mono or ‘faux stereo’ so this a a brand new stereo mix and it’s delightful. Wild Honey was already a pretty stripped down, sparse affair but hearing this new mix I noticed loads of little details – a guitar part, a vocal harmony that I’d never heard before and the music benefits » Continue Reading.

Art Sex Music

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Author:Cosey Fanni Tutti

Cosey is of course best known as a founder member of COUM/Throbbing Gristle and it is appropriate that this book coincides with her native Hull being City of Culture 2017 with COUM/TG being heavily featured – rightly so. One of the most fascinating aspects of this book is her vivid description of the truly weird art/music/squatter netherworld that existed in Hull in the late 60s/early 70s (who knew?!) and provided an escape from her unsettled home life – although when COUM and fellow squatters are not busy being ‘wreckers of civilization’ they are less than revolutionary with their attitude to women’s liberation and so she is is also required to cook, clean and push a pram full of clothes several miles from their deserted dockland HQ to the nearest laundry.

She soon falls in with one Genesis P.Orridge both as a lover and art/musical collaborator. Suffice to say she doesn’t speak highly of GPO who comes across a manipulative, childish, needy misanthrope with a penchant for hurling domestic animals, breeze blocks and whatever else comes to hand. Cosey, it has to be said, is used to handling herself in the rough and tumble of post-war Hull » Continue Reading.

Can Plays Pop

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I’m very much enjoying the Can ‘The Singles’ collection released today. I didn’t realise Can released much in the way of singles but it seems they did, and while they are perhaps best heard in extended album format it’s quite fun to hear a career spanning set distilled down to a bunch of 7″ edits. If you’re unfamiliar with the band this is an excellent entry point – and it seems I’ve never heard ‘Turtles Have Short Legs’ before which was released around the same time as Tago Mago – it’s a cracker.

Black Grape – Pop Voodoo! (No Clue-doo!)

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No… come back! I’m a huge fan of the first couple of Happy Mondays albums (the first produced by John Cale, the second Martin Hannett’s last great flourish) sound like intricate, impossibly complex Art-Rock compared to what came later (the band would disagree – ‘Pills n’ Thrills’ is what they intended to be all along). Shaun Ryder’s reinvention as a sort of lovable rogue/national treasure via the tabloid press/Loose Women/Reality TV is a bit baffling – but as Iggy Pop proves – we all love an ex-drug loon who is secretly a big softy. Can’t say I was eagerly awaiting the return of Black Grape – but this caught my ear and it’s a big slab of utterly daft, stupid, bouncy fun. Talking Heads filtered through the suburbs of Salford. I’m DJing at a party on Saturday and this is definitely going in the set.

Transformer: This Heat/Loop/Royal Trux/The Fall

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Venue:

Victoria Warehouse, Old Trafford

Date: 28/05/2017

Transformer is a new indoor festival event, with a pretty mind boggling line-up… reminiscent of those ill-fated ATP events in fact…hmmm. Sure enough the organisers posted a notice to the effect that one Barry Hogan was not involved in a financial capacity (presumably to avoid a long line of creditors turning up demanding cash, and to allay any concerns that the event might be a birrova a shambles or indeed be cancelled at very short notice). Reading a bit further, surprise surprise it turns out Barry is a ‘consultant’ to the event – well he does know how to put a great bill together. The price is right though, for just £25 which is what you’d pay to see just one of the headliners – it’s worth a punt.

First up, at the ungodly hour of 4pm I’m really pleased to see This Is Not This Heat again. It feels strange walking in from the Sunday afternoon sunshine straight into the ferocious ‘Horizontal Hold’ in full flight. It sounds immense. It’s a more compact band version of the band than their headline show at the Barbican back in February- no » Continue Reading.

Ducktails

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Venue:

Soup Kitchen, Manchester

Date: 08/05/2017

Ducktails is the solo project of Matt Mondanile which he has run in parallel with being a key member of Real Estate (who are getting to 2,000 seater venue and heavy 6 Music airplay level – a mere 4 albums in). He’s made a series of curiously idiosyncratic records over the last few years with his own uniquely gauzy take on the artier end of 80s Pop and 70s AOR and really hit his stride on the last two ‘The Flower Lane’ and ‘St Catherine’. He has now parted company with Real Estate, apparently, in less-than amicable circumstances that nobody concerned wishes to mumble on about (and it’s hardly earth shattering Pop news) – so this project is now his day job.

He sometimes appears with a 4 piece band but tonight he’s flying solo with just a guitar, a bunch of FX pedals, a little sampler and most of the music on a backing track (and anyone who gets in a flap about such things really needs to accept that this is the only way, in these austere times, for touring musicians to fly around on a tight budget). I’ve seen » Continue Reading.

The best ‘entry level’ songs for newcomers

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So, if you had to convince someone of the merits of a particular artist they might not know which song would you reach for…and why?

If I was going to persuade someone to delve into the music of, for instance, Lawrence – from his days in the mighty Felt – I’d pick this one. I think it showcases his songwriting style very well and it’s also a glorious pop song that probably should have been a huge hit. (‘Primitive Painters’ would be a more obvious one but that’s a bit misleading as it’s a collaboration with the Cocteau Twins)

Radiohead sound problems – and why bands don’t hear what you hear

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The big Rock and Pop news this weekend is that Radiohead had, by all accounts, a bit of a shocker at the Coachella festival with sound problems causing them to walk off several times. This sort of thing does happen but what’s interesting in this clip is that when the sound drops, the band carry on playing, don’t miss a beat and continue to Mak Show – entirely oblivious to the fact that the enormous PA system out front has cut dead. Of course they’re all wearing sophisticated in-ear monitoring systems which means that they’re not only hearing a very precise mix of their live sound tailored to what they need to hear on stage, they also cannot hear anything else – and if it’s so powerful that they can’t detect that the PA has gone down presumably they’re completely isolated from the great unwashed in the audience or anything else for that matter. This makes me think that ‘ver Head and other enormobands that use this kit routinely play in a hermetically sealed sound universe, obvious to what’s happening out front. Bands often talk about a gig very much being dependent on the energy they get back from the » Continue Reading.

Real Estate (the band)

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Anyone here like the Real Estate? If you’re not familiar they’re New Jersey combo and to my ears sound like a mix of Teenage Fanclub, The Byrds/CSN, Television, Aztec Camera, High Llamas, early Prefab Sprout and Felt. They frequently cite The Feelies as an influence – who I’ve never heard and perhaps I should (anyone care to advise?) Anyway the new one from them ‘In Mind’ is excellent, in spite of being their first without Matt Mondanile (who is a mighty fine artist in his own right and is now focusing on his solo project Ducktails). Been listening via ‘streaming’ and It sounds like a keeper to me so I feel compelled to go and purchase it from my local Indie shop tomorrow on an expensive piece of plastic – we’re due a long, hot summer – this will be on heavy rotation regardless.

Let’s play Record Store Day Bingo

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I’ve no real problem with Record Store Day – I can’t say I’ll be camping out overnight with the eBay scalpers for any of this year’s offerings but ultimately it’s a bit of harmless fun. Nevertheless let’s have a but of harmless fun at RSD’s expense as we once again play…Record Store Day Bingo. Eyes Down..see how many you can spot:

1. Re-issue of album that is coming out later this year but in a different colour

2. ‘Bonkers’, ‘nutty’ and ‘totally loony’ collectors picture disc of a tune you can pick up in a charity shop for 5p. “What will they think of next ” etc…

3. More scrapings from the bottomless pit of shite bootlegs from Ozit / Dandelion (See pic)

4. ‘Exclusive’ debut release by a band literally nobody has ever heard of

5. Multiple ‘exclusive’ releases on different labels by same (dead) artist

6. Mega limited edition of 500 copies of something that would be lucky to sell 5 any other week

7. Dr Who

8. er…Nine Live albums by the same artist

9. “Official” reissues that the band have no knowledge of

10. Another Various Artists Mod/R&B/Soul comp

» Continue Reading.

Rwy’n dy garu di Datblygu

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Datblygu are one of those bands who have always been on my radar thanks to Peel, and from bands they influenced like Gorky’s and Super Furry Animals but I found myself properly digging into their back catalogue recently and it’s intriguing and wonderful. I’ve no idea what the lyrics are but that doesn’t really bother me – I get the general gist of it. The music is really minimal – think Young Marble Giants and The Fall, and the obvious latter day comparison is the backing tracks SpaceBarBloke from Sleaford Mods writes for his band but there is also that certain something that (without wishing to patronise) I hear in a lot of homegrown Welsh music that’s just a tad more otherworldly and Psychedelic but very subtle. There is lots of Datblygu stuff on YouTube and on Spotify etc, but if you get grabbed by it and you want to support Datblygu you can get most of their back catalogue CDs and some Vinyl at a very reasonable price from Anskt Music c/o Ankst.net

http://www.ankst.net/

Japan – A Foreign Place

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Author:Anthony Reynolds

I’ve been a casual fan of Japan over the years, I own Tin Drum, David’s first LP and a couple of compilations but I’ve never really dug into the history of the band. I knew they had a pre-history as a sort of glam/trash band but that was it. So this was quite an intriguing read. Reynolds traces the history as school friends, and details the very slow rise to fame through the late 70s/early 80s. It’s fair to say Japan were not an overnight sensation, signed to the deeply unhip Sansa label they were a confusing proposition – looking like the New York Dolls but musically someway between the Alex Harvey Band and Chic. For years they were, somewhat ironically, big only in Japan. Once success arrived their were huge rifts within the band which are detailed here. They eventually hit upon a formula of elegant, stylish synth pop but perhaps were more influential than successful and seemed to quit just as they were on the verge of breaking.

It’s fair to say they weren’t the most rock of roll of bands in spite of their early image, so don’t read this expecting tales of hellraising » Continue Reading.

XTC Rockumentary..or if you will..Popumentary

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This is a trailer for a forthcoming XTC Rockumentary (cannily featuring Mr Partridge debunking the whole idea and Derek Smalls as a celeb Talking Head). Apparently this was posted briefly before being pulled but here is the cat that was briefly let out of the bag. Looks a pretty low budget affair and was wondering if anyone other than Andy was going to get a say until Colin Moulding pops up near the end. Andy Partridge bucks the general trend of most musicians in being extremely engaging, enlightening and funny in interviews but I hope they can get Dave Gregory, Barry Andrews, Terry Chambers and co to add their twopenneth. There’s definitely room for such a thing to be made, not sure who is involved but I daresay if they launched a crowdfunding campaign they would smash it given XTC’s worldwide cultdom and raise enough budget to get all the footage they need, with enough spare to pilot a Space Shuttle to get Martians opinions on which was the best LP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh0-TMY2RcM

Novella

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Venue:

Gullivers, Manchester

Date: 02/03/2017

Support comes from Manchester based The Bleachés (pronounced Bleeshays…obvs) -who look barely old enough to be in the venue. They’re clearly in thrall to the Brian Jonestown Massacre, they’re a bit ramshackle but in a good way….they get a proper psychedelic, garagey racket going and they whip up some nice choppy guitar riffs that should stand them in good stead. I like them and they look cool.

I last saw Novella in a support slot and they really grabbed me, so I’m pleased to see them headlining in their own right in support of their new LP ‘Change of State’. The new LP makes up the majority of the set and while I really enjoyed their debut, which has a more shoegazey/Lush feel to it, the new one really hits home and is highly recommended. I guess the most obvious reference points are Broadcast and Stereolab in terms of the mixture of Neu/Can style rhythms and analog electronics combined with choppy guitars and political lyrics (the new LP is a response to Br**it and Tr**p – sample lyric “Tunnel through the borders…Tunnel through the borders” – Yeah!).

What strikes me is how much » Continue Reading.