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Agnes Obel

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Venue:

Town Hall, Birmingham

Date: 29/11/2016

We had front row balcony seats to experience what can only be described as modern chamber music. Agnes was backed by three extremely talented female players. On percussion was Belgian, Catherine de Biasio (a relative of Melanie?) who also played sax and clarinet and sang harmonies/backing vocals. There were two cellists, both of whom played other instruments and were live looping and singing. They were Charlotte Danhier (who played Mellotron and ukelele and is also Belgian) and Kristina Koropecki (who also played autoharp and percussion and is Canadian).

The set started with Red Virgin Soil, an instrumental propelled by plucked cello strings and with Catherine playing clarinet. The multi-instrumental all-female band comprised two cellists and a percussionist as well as Agnes. Agnes was stood at the front playing electronic keyboards (mostly with a natural piano sound), but she had also brought along her own living room upright piano which was at the back of the stage. This was mainly used for a couple of beautiful instrumentals and songs from Philharmonics, such as the title track and one of the encores, Riverside.

The set was mostly drawn from Citizen of Glass, and demonstrated the » Continue Reading.

Diagrams – The Dorothy Project

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08/11/2016

The Dorothy Project A ground-breaking album collaboration between electro-folk songwriter and 90-year-old poet.

“If you have failed and fallen as I have

And long to be forgiven

Walk out under the graphite sky”

~ by Dorothy Trogdon, from the poem ‘Under The Graphite Sky’

About This Project

Hello, my name is Sam Genders. I have been a musician since I was 15 and I’ve toured the world and played festivals such as Glastonbury, Latitude, Green Man, Haldern Pop and Iceland Airwaves with my various bands Tunng, The Accidental, Diagrams and Throws. Independent record label Full Time Hobby has released six of my albums, my songs have had regular airplay on BBC 6 Music, Xfm and more, and my previous band Tunng was once nominated in the UK BBC 2 Folk Awards for ‘Best Group’.

The last couple of years have taken me on an amazing journey during which I met an incredibly talented 90-year-old poet named Dorothy Trogdon, wrote an entire album’s worth of songs with her and then recorded that album with some of my all » Continue Reading.

3 Ring Circus – Richard Hawley, John Grant & Bill Ryder Jones

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Venue:

Sheffield University Drama Studio and two other venues

Date: 08/10/2016

It was a simple idea. Get three top artists to each play a 40 minute set in three different venues simultaneously. We chose the University Drama Studio with its intimate capacity of about 200. The other two venues were the Upper Chapel in the city centre and the final one was Trafalgar Warehouse with a larger capacity of 700.

It meant the audience at each venue heard the artists in a different order. We got Richard Hawley as the opening act. It was acoustic with just Richard and Shez Sheridan playing exquisitely honed and pared back arrangements of top tunes. Not all quiet numbers, though, although the gentler, romantic songs got more of a look in. My favourite was a very atmospheric version of Standing at the Sky’s Edge.

Next up was John Grant, who was accompanied by keyboardist and guitarist. It was great to see him in such an intimate setting. Although the arrangements were pared back, Grant’s gorgeous and powerful voice and bonkers lyrics did it for me. Wonderful stuff.

Finally, we got Bill Ryder Jones who shambled on stage with a carrier bag full of » Continue Reading.

Torturing the Saxophone

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I ‘ve been reading “Letters of Note” a compendium of great letters written throughout history and in all kinds of circumstances. This has led me to the companion website, where I came across a wonderful critique of free jazz by Robert Crumb:

In 2014, celebrated Swedish free jazz saxophonist Mats Gustafsson sent a copy of his forthcoming album to one of his idols, the legendary comic book artist, record collector and musician Robert Crumb. Gustafsson’s upcoming record was a compilation of his experimental interpretations of some jazz classics by people such as Duke Ellington, Lars Gullin, and the Ayler brothers, and he sought Crumb’s opinion. Crumb, baffled, pulled no punches and responded with this brutally honest letter. In honour of the critique, Gustafsson named his next album Torturing the Saxophone, and proudly reprinted the letter amongst the liner notes.

Gustafsson:

I finally gave a listen to those LPs and the CD you sent me, of your own saxophone playing and some Swedish modern jazz. I gotta tell you, on the cover of the CD of your sax playing, which is black and has no text on it, I wrote in large block letters, in silver ink, “Torturing The saxophone—Mats Gustafsson.” » Continue Reading.

All charges against Roy Harper are dropped

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The CPS has dropped all the remaining charges against Roy Harper, but not before he has spent his life savings and more on defending himself and having his reputation trashed. I guess you can’t sue the CPS or the police for defamation, but the whole situation seems very unfair. At the age of 74, he now has to rebuild his life.

I’m pretty angry about it as a fan of some 35 years. It’s just outrageous.

http://gu.com/p/4e3ej?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

An evening with Joe Boyd

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Venue:

The Greystones, Sheffield

Date: 06/03/2015

The evening was in a question and answer format with author JP Bean (and later the audience) asking questions and Joe then regaling us with lengthy and fascinating accounts of various episodes from his career. It transpired he had once been to Sheffield 51 years ago as a young tour manager. But had got so wrecked the night before that he has no recollection at all. Tales from his early days included his first encounters with Bob Dylan. From hearing Dylan playing through songs such as Masters of War in a room at a party before it had been recorded, to losing out on a night sleeping with a girlfriend he was staying with. Joe got in from a Skip James gig to find his things moved from the bedroom to a couch and a note saying ‘I’ll explain in the morning.’ Iit turns out that she’d met Dylan at a party so he’d usurped Joe’s place in her bed! Joe also spoke at length about the famous Newport Folk Festival when Dylan went electric and all the backstage ructions and the fact that although it was momentous, it also destroyed something that » Continue Reading.