What does it sound like?:

The Complete Matrix Tapes by The Velvet Underground is four and a half hours of the best Rock music ever recorded. It consists of four complete live sets played over two days during a week long residency at The Matrix, San Fransisco, in late November 1969.

By that time, The Velvet Underground were boiled down to the essence of a Rock band, into its four elemental parts of guitar, bass, drums, organ. Andy Warhol’s artistic patronage, Nico’s glacial cool and John Cale’s maverick experimentation were long gone. The raw, basic sound strips away the brash hedonism of the songs and reveals a poignant tenderness at their heart. They highlight the fragility of the human condition, populated as they are by drug addicts, pimps, prostitutes, people living precariously on the edge of a society that rejects and despises them, composed by a tremulous hand, one of their own, someone who understands and loves them. These are amongst the greatest Rock songs ever written, crafted from blood, spit and a heated spoon, because, even though most of us will never encounter the characters and situations described, we can all relate to the emotions expressed in the relationships. » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Michael Hutchence was the charismatic focal point of INXS. He possessed all the ‘presence’, ‘aura’ or ‘magnetism’ but still managed to be a part of a band of brothers that stuck together through thick and thin. His photogenic looks, flowing hair and ability to turn heads attracted love and devotion from a legion of fans, a string of gorgeous celebrity girlfriends and the other members of the group. He was undoubtedly a star, whose Rock Monster lifestyle and tragic early death have converted him into a legend. Mystify is a film documentary of his life (reviewed in Nights Out by Junior Wells) and now we have the pleasure of the soundtrack, sub-headed as A Musical Journey With Michael Hutchence.

The documentary is put together using mainly existing footage, including home recordings, by Richard Lowenstein. Despite having a long relationship with the band, dating back to their early videos, and the film presenting Hutchence within the INXS phenomenum, he had a problem obtaining the music. INXS refused permission. It took the intervention of Tiger Lily, Hutchence’s daughter with the equally tragic Paula Yates, to obtain nine tracks. Lowenstein showed her the film on a laptop. » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

We’ve all done it, haven’t we? Had a night out with the lads, drank a few too many beers, smoked too much spliff and come up with a hair-brained scheme, quickly abandoned the next day. In 1968, Mick Jagger, Pete Townsend and Ronnie Laine dreamt up the notion of combining a live Rock Show for TV with a circus and calling it The Rock And Roll Circus. Mick saw it as an opportunity to promote Beggars Banquet and whet the Stone’s appetite for live work, as their last performance had been in April 1967. Before long, a BBC sound stage was booked, a distressed big top was arranged and a troupe of clowns, acrobats and fir-eaters were hired. Michael Lindsay-Hogg was put in the director’s chair and a number of bands were lined up to perform. The audience was invited from The Stones’ fan club.

Recording began at 2pm on 11th December 1968. It took so long to set up between acts, the headliners hit the stage at 5am the following morning. Both performers and audience became increasingly refreshed and exhausted as the evening dragged on. Those acts who got in early fared best.

» Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

A Prince demo is no ordinary demo. Besides the usual synthesiser, drum machine and click tracks, most of the demos on Originals include overdubs, backing vocals and horns. Fourteen of the fifteen here were made between 1981 and 1986, a period when Prince functioned in a different time zone, working for more hours than there are in a day, without the need for sleep, and at a super-human rate. He recorded Controversy, 1999, Purple Rain, Around The World In A Day, Parade and Sign O The Times, plus numerous quality B sides and outtakes. He also undertook four major tours and wrote and performed in two movies. It was a time when Prince was smarter, quicker and more exciting than anyone else.

These are no throwaways, studio discards donated to a worthy cause. They are songs conceived, created and arranged with particular artists in mind, ones he’d recruited deliberately and specifically as part of his master plan to put together a roster of Prince acolytes. Other than The Bangles and Kenny Rogers, these acts were almost entirely dependent on Prince for any success they scored. Prince benefitted too. Writing for another voice gave him » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Dylan LeBlanc is a sensitive soul. He writes personal, evocative songs. His voice is sweet and gentle, almost feminine. He has his demons. His parents divorced when he was an infant. His father, James, moved to Nashville to pursue a career writing country songs, so little Dylan had two homes. He ended up in rehab before he finished high school. He has an open, trusting face, high cheekbones and long flowing locks. A good-looking sensitive musician with issues should be a big hit with the ladies but his early albums are bleak Southern Gothic, the kind that warns people to keep their distance.

Dave Cobb is a highly professional producer with a long cv ranging from Sturgill Simpson to Jason Isbell. You’d expect him to provide a slick ‘Nashville’ production for LeBlanc and his longstanding band, The Pollies, even though Renegade was recorded over just ten days. It is, indeed, nice and clean with smooth curved lines but the surprise is that there is barely a Country note in it. This album is mainly Power Pop but with the power turned down down to seven. Think of eighties radio music, such as Journey » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Wovoka Gentle are a trio from London: twins Imogen and Ellie Mason and William Stokes. The music they make is an eclectic sound collage. They can all turn their hand to any instrument they care to reach for but they tend to use synthesisers, drum machines, samplers, effects units and guitars, lots of guitars. Steadfastly refusing to be pidgeon-holed, they have no respect for genres or musical styles and have the attention span of a gnat. A Wovoka Gentle track could be a Pastoral Folk song with Electronic squelches set to an African beat, topped with ripe, close harmonies, suddenly handbrake-turning into New Order, lurching onto a sea shanty and finishing up with Johnny Cash. It’s as though they’ve randomised the most diverse playlist they could think of and flit from one track to the next before each has finished.

At first, Start Clanging Cymbals is as challenging a listen as its title suggests. However, coherence improves as the album goes on and over repeated listens. The youthful vibrancy of the music is infectious. The sound is warm and bright. There is some beautiful playing here. They are all skilful musicians. The vocals » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Jamie Freeman is evangelical about Americana. He isn’t just a member of the Americana Music Association UK, he is also their designer and a dedicated volunteer. He has spent many thousands of hours practising his musicianship and writing songs. He organises gigs for Americana bands and is the MD for Angaleena Presley of The Pistol Annies when she tours Britain. He spends half his life in Nashville, playing, learning, supporting, even producing. The only thing he lacks is a beard. He is a man utterly in love with the music and totally committed to the cause.

Dreams About Falling is his third LP but his first for six years. He has exploited his connections to the full. It is well produced by Neilson Hubbard in Nashville. The songs are co-written with some of Americana’s best known: Michael Logan, Amy Tudor, Ben Glover, Brandy Zdan, Amy Speace and The Wild Ponies, Telisha & Doug Williams. The lyrical topics covered are worthy and suitably dour: the strain within personal relationships, the return home of a damaged Gulf War war veteran, the Grenville fire, the effects of having to cope with an alcoholic father, sibling rivalry and » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Mavis Staples is eighty in July. She has no intention of slowing down. There have been three celebratory events where the likes of David Byrne, Maggie Rogers, Jason Isbell and Norah Jones have shown their appreciation. Live In London, recorded at The Union Chapel was released in February. There is this brand new studio album and the small matter of a mini world tour: in June, she will perform at Glastonbury, Dublin, Amsterdam, Norrmalm and Antwerp. As she pithily puts it, “I’m over the hill, but now I’m going over the mountain.”

Mavis has evolved as an recording artist over the decades. Her voice is less sweet than in the sixties and is now darker in hue, capable of an authoritative growl. She is always willing to embrace modern producers and songwriters. However, her message of peaceful protest has been consistent and she still knows how to fully inhabit a song, unerringly finding its core and drawing out its strengths.

The nearly fifty year old young man occupying the producer’s seat this time is Ben Harper. He was brought up in a household full of Soul music, so Mavis Staples is part of his » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Daddy Long Legs are misnamed. They are a garage punk/blues band determined to hit the stage hard, get the audience spinning and drink the place dry before disappearing into the night. There is nothing fragile or delicate about them. They make a racket like an alley cat; nimble with sharp claws and teeth, they squeal, hiss and howl. A threesome, Brian Hurd on hollering, unwashed harmonica and guitar, Murat Akturk slide and fuzz guitar and Josh Styles drums and junk percussion, Lowdown Ways is their third and best album to date. JD McPherson helps out on bass and produces with his mate, Jimmy Sutton, to capture their wild, feral sound.

All twelve tracks are originals and they breeze by in well under forty minutes. They are created by the streaming generation with the whole of Rock ‘n’ Roll history at their fingertips, able to flick from Howlin’ Wolf to Dr. Feelgood and Jon Spencer in seconds. They have no qualms about melding musical styles, such as singing a Delta Blues to a Rockabilly beat, topped off with a greasy riff. Lyrically, it’s all about life on the wrong side of the tracks and » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Field Medic *is* Kevin Patrick Sullivan. He plays acoustic guitar, banjo, a couple of tin cans or a cheap drum machine and the obligatory gob iron. He’s a grotesque, a car crash of a busker. He is so Lo-Fi, he couldn’t get any lower.

He opens this album, his third, berating his audience. It’s a surprise he has one. His voice is mainly a painful whine. His songs shamble along. It’s difficult to imagine how anyone can like this music. Fade Into The Dawn is an album to be endured, rather than enjoyed.

As it progresses, we get to know him a bit better. Sullivan is exposed as a friendless, homeless alcoholic whose nomadic musician lifestyle brings him no joy. The Bottle Is My Lover, She’s Just A Friend reveals that there is a girl, one who clearly cares for him but cannot save him from himself. The mood is relentlessly downbeat and downtrodden, if not explicitly suicidal.

These ten songs are effectively a dialogue with himself, a long, dark night of the soul, a struggle with his damaging desire to drink, the bleak thoughts in his head and the black dog of » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

In a crowded field of female singer-songwriters, Carrie Tree releases her third album, courtesy of the crowd funding generosity of her fans. Her voice is as silky as the petals of a prize-winning rose. She opens The Canoe with a whisper, soft and tender, laying flowers and incense by a lake but by the penultimate track, she unleashes her full range from delicate to destructive, falsetto to grumbling baritone, to convey the complexities of The Red Clay Woman.

Markus Sieber produces and contributes arrangements. He is known for his warm, natural ambient music. He brings a variety of acoustic instruments, ngoni, jarana, sitar, ronroco and a balafon (an African xylophone) to accompany Carrie’s familiar palette of piano, guitar, harp, flute, glockenspiel, clarinet and cello. His skill is to combine all these instruments, yet retain a minimalist, delicate feel, all the better to bring out the quiet, unassuming charm of Carrie’s songs. It helps that all the musicians show admirable restraint. Between them, they cast a spell.

Carrie sings with her chin high and her jaw set firm. The experiences she portrays are personal and mystical, rooted in a deep respect for ancestry and » Continue Reading.