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January 2021 = |
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Dead Sea Apes /
Adam Stone / Black Tempest |
Paisel |
Shit &
Shine |
Wobbler |
The
fellowship of Hallucinatory Voyagers |
I Go To Sleep
comp |
Big
Scenic Nowhere |
Dean
McPhee |
Songs
of the Green Pheasant |
Jim
Ghedi |
Spiral
Wave Nomads |
Spurious
Transients |
The Cyrillic
Typewriter |
the Kitchen
Cynics |
Black
Pumas |
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Home |
DEAD
SEA APES / ADAM STONE /
BLACK TEMPEST - DATALAND
(LP from Cardinal Fuzz Cardinal
Fuzz — Home (bigcartel.com)
and Feeding Tube Records https://feedingtuberecords.com
)
Together with arthritis, forgetfulness and growing irascibility (house!),
it’s a sure sign of advancing years when it
seems like only yesterday that Manchester(ish)’s
Dead Sea Apes and Godalming’s Black Tempest
(Stephen Bradbury) released their stunningly
good The
Sun Behind The Sun collaboration. In
truth, it’s been seven long years, since when
both contributed to our Paper
Leaves compilation and played one or other
Woolf Music shindig, in what surely qualifies
them as Terrascopic nobility - the marquises of
the marquees. Seven long years? Time to scratch
that itch, then..
Dataland
reprises the partnership, courtesy of a Covid
curfew-enforced exchange of internet files.
Sonar bleeps supply the outriders to the
metronomic ambient synths and precision drumming
of ‘Lost Hours’ – the word ‘Kosmische’ springs
to mind and lodges there – with third member of
the triumvirate and regular DSA contributor Adam
Stone intoning like an inconsolably depressed
John Cooper Clarke, his dystopian observations
leaden with boredom and couched in flat earth,
deadpan delivery. This, already, is a cybernetic
and really quite bleak take on DSA soundscapes,
with Steve Bradbury’s synths contributing a
jagged, more rhythmic edge than the mainly
ambient washes that were his hallmark of The
Sun
Behind The Sun.
‘Time To Eat Again’ simultaneously
swaggers and staggers through a slough of
despond, powered by a gloriously dirty chug that
would push Massive Attack’s ‘Angel’
to a split decision and be considered
unlucky if it didn’t receive the nod. A
dub-scarred ‘Shop Soiled’ offers a tantalisingly
fleeting reminder of Brett Savage’s guitar lines
from DSA’s early ‘Soy Dios’ period, with Stone
again plumbing the depths of disconsolation, yet
conveying more animated frustration in what,
under normal conditions, might just be
discernible as a chorus. The title track tackles
the mindlessly repetitive official data
harvesting, in which many of us have been gladly
complicit in our browsing habits and social
media activities, in a post-modern take on
Chaplin’s ‘Modern Times’
and it’s finally left to the sublimely
sinister and totally topical ‘Empty Street’ to
re-write the Book of Revelations and deliver the
most unremittingly bleak eight or so minutes
imaginable; a jaw-dropping, nerve shredding,
top-notch soundtrack to these end of days.
While it would have been understandable, indeed forgivable if, in the
circumstances, they’d just dusted off and buffed
up The Sun Behind The Sun this is a very different and altogether more
dangerous beast indeed. Bradbury’s synths aside,
it’s Stone’s lyrical and narrative contribution,
together with a more metallic and focused Dead
Sea Apes that makes Dataland
seem less of an improvised cosmic jam and more
like men on a message. This, then, is 2020; the
sound of the streets, maybe even The Streets, in
lockdown, a Kraftwerk for the Just Eat
generation, when even the all-night garage has
been forced to shut up shop. There’s a theory,
to which I heartily subscribe, that if you’re
susceptible to low mood then getting keel-hauled
by melancholy music is a damn site more
effective in bringing you out the other end than
forced jollity, in which case this could be the
vaccine you’ve been waiting for. Miserabilism
rarely sounded so compelling or indeed so good.
Happy daze.
(Ian
Fraser)
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PAISIEL
– UNCONSCIOUS DEATH WISHES
(LP
from
Rocket Recordings Paisiel
(bandcamp.com))
Drumming sensation João Pais Filipe has already helped
serve up one of your scribe’s favourite releases
of this otherwise Annus Horriblis, namely Faca
de Fogo with the (al)mighty Gnod (Terrascope
Reviews
for July 2020), and which currently occupies a
place up in the nosebleeds on this year’s
personal Best of the Worst of Years list. Well
he’s in danger of pulling it off again on the
strength of this latest corker, this time with
saxophonist Julius Gabriel as Paisiel; elements
of their respective names making up the band
title and which also means something about a
guardian angel – goodness knows we’re in need of
one these days.
Unconscious
Death
Wishes comprises one long, eponymous piece punctuated by the irksome
requirement for minimal manual labour that
involves “flipping over” (I’ve tried training
the cats, honest). We’re eased in gently
courtesy of an emerging drone and a hymnal organ
redolent of Cirrus Minor-mode Floyd or Atomic
Rooster’s intro to ‘Severn Lonely Streets’, to
the accompaniment of far-off, soaring bird
calls. Just as you are aligning your spiritual
focus, jungle fever gradually kicks in; the
sound of distant drumming creeping ever closer
to front-of-mix; the bird calls now identifiably
human if somewhat lupine in quality. Hereafter,
Filipe’s inspired percussion lays down a
breathtaking beat-fuelled foundation for
Gabriel’s expressive blowing, which although
centred on a mostly limited range of scales, is
delivered energetically and eloquently. The
results are hypnotic, hyper-intense, voodoo
ceremony meets Rio carnival, fired by frantic,
arm-sapping, locked-in rhythms and which ends,
as it began, with a drone albeit one more
abrasive and emotionally raw this time.
Exhausting and exhilarating, and what a long,
strange trip it’s been, as they might have said
once.
(Ian
Fraser)
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$HIT
AND $HINE – MALIBU
LIQUOR STORE
(LP
from
Rocket Recordings Shit
and Shine (bandcamp.com))
Listening to the prodigious and prolific Craig Clouse’s twisted brand of
uneasy listening often feels like you’re sitting
on the razor’s edge seat of a particularly
uncomfortable racing bike with dodgy brakes and
pointing down a sharp screed slope. His latest
Rocket release (they and Riot Season appear to
have shared custody of the Texan’s UK output) Malibu Liquor Store is akin to one of those American road trip
documentaries voiced by the likes of Rich Hall,
but one that’s available only on subscription
(the price being your soul) via the murky
recesses of the dark web. Speak fiend and enter.
Clouse’s creative utilisation of stumbling rhythms and devilishly twisted
electronic noise and samples proves that, with
imagination and skilful application, it is
possible to keep reinventing yourself within
some fairly limited parameters without sounding
forced or repetitive. Accordingly, each of these
eight cuts has an identity of its own, starting
with the title track which is a free jazz and
dubstep cocktail take on krautrock. ‘Rat Snake’
is a mutant horror; a slithering and skittering
shamanistic desert blues, while the frenetic,
electronic leaps and lurches of ‘Sheriff of
Yates Hill’ takes Grid’s ‘Swamp Thing’ to the
next umpteen levels of weirdness, complete with
warped cavalry bugle calls. Nurse! My Beta
Blockers, now!
The shuffling, sinister ‘Cream Tea’ takes the trip intensity down just a
notch whereas the truncated, tumbling Tropicana
of ‘Chervette’, if not quite the real (Van)
McCoy, still manages to do the hustle, kind of.
An elongated ‘Hillbilly Moonshine’ scratches the
itch for four-to-the-floor motorik, but, even
so, it’s not long before it too starts tripping
over its feet as the ‘shroom ‘shine takes hold
and the dancing gets messier. Entering the final
quartile, the comparatively fleeting ‘Devil’s
Backbone’ feels like the soundtrack to a carpet
bombing, while ‘Barbara and Woodrow’ sounds for
all the world in these times of post-apocalyptic
rehearsal as a virally mutated mash-up of
Zappa’s ‘Watermelon in Easter Hay’ and an
instrumental out-take of ‘Lucille Has Messed My
Mind Up’. It
also brings us back down into the room following
a genuinely disturbing psychedelic listening
experience. A wiser person might think twice
about partaking of this stuff again, but then
you know that old adage about there being no
fool like an old one, so I’m going in again.
If you’ll excuse the use of some old Norman French, this is pretty fucked
up, which also more or less sums up what I did
when I neglected to reserve my vinyl copy.
Shucks!
(Ian
Fraser)
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WOBBLER
–
DWELLERS OF THE DEEP
(LP/CD/Digital
on Karisma
Records)
Not
long ago I saw on social media that there was an
affection out there for some of the classic Yes
LPs within our community.
Coincidentally, I’d just heard this new
release from the Norwegian band Wobbler.
Wobbler’s been around since the late
nineties and Dwellers of the Deep is their fifth
album. Their
fans would tell you they reached prog Valhalla
with their last album, 2017’s ‘From Silence to
Somewhere,’ and had a towering bar to reach for
this new one. I’ll
let you be the judge, but I’m thoroughly sold.
From
the off, Wobbler’s similarities to ‘The Yes
Album – Fragile – Close to the Edge’ period Yes
are uncanny. OK,
I’ll throw in ‘Relayer,’ too.
They’re anchored by keyboardist Lars
Fredrik Frøisle’s
Hammond, Mellotron and Moog artillery and
Kristian Karl Hultgren’s bass playing, which
bears an incredible likeness to Master Squire’s
hurtling freight train.
Singer/guitarist Andreas Wettergreen Strømman
Prestmo (my next child, grandchild or pet,
whichever comes first, will bear this name) can
sound at times very much like Jon Anderson, and
other times not.
The
four songs on Dwellers of the Deep are all
extended journeys of the mind and ears.
Naturally it’s a concept album, with the
theme of the internal workings, shades and
conflicts of the mind.
The nearly 14-minute leadoff track “By
the Banks” is full of precision playing,
dizzying shifting time signatures and
instrumental virtuosity.
Led by Frøisle’s
serious Hammond mastery, it’s a tour de force.
But then, they all are.
“Five
Rooms” is my favorite, and features lovely
Mellotron and vocals, plenty of key and tempo
changes, as well as some of Frøisle’s
gnarliest
keyboard acrobatics leading a high-speed chase
somewhere. That
the rest of the band can keep up is a credit to
their extreme tightness and professionalism.
By
this time, over 22 minutes in, guitarists Marius
Halleland and Prestmo have been noticeably
low-key. That
all changes with the brief-by-comparison and
beautiful ballad “Naiad Dreams.”
Featuring classical acoustic guitars,
Mellotron, and plaintive melody and harmony
vocals, for once it reminds me more of Steve
Hackett and Genesis, and it’s all good.
This
all sets the stage for the 19-minute epic “Merry
Macabre.” Here,
Wobbler pulls out every magic trick in their
considerable collection.
It’s all here, drama, pathos, attack, and
adventure. Guitarists
Halleland and Prestmo are now fully charged and
out front of the ensemble.
And keyboardist Lars Fredrik Frøisle,
heretofore sticking mostly to organ and
Mellotron, hauls out the big guns and adds piano
and an explosive plethora of synthesizer colors.
It's
always a judgement call what to think when an
artist is as close to a beloved canon as Wobbler
is to Yes. I
say don’t overthink it and enjoy it for what it
is. Wobbler
are obviously all highly skilled writers and
musicians, and one heck of a tight outfit.
They give a fresh bite of a delicious
fruit. Dwellers
of the Deep should give all a warm feeling and a
highly enjoyable ride, as well as a new
catalogue to explore if you’re unfamiliar.
(Mark
Feingold)
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THE
FELLOWSHIP OF
HALLUCINATORY VOYAGERS – THE IMAGINARY GALLERY
(LP/CD
on
FRG Records)
Despite
the challenges of isolation, lockdowns, travel
restrictions and many other obstacles planted
firmly in the way of the normal creative process
of making and recording music, Sendelica and
their collaborators embraced the wizardry of the
internet with gusto during 2020 and delivered a
series of fine releases in the guise of newer
projects, The Isolated Psychedelicists, The Lost
Stoned Pandas and the now well established, The
Fellowship of Hallucinatory Voyagers (well it
must be hallucinatory as actual voyages have
been severely restricted since March 2020). ‘The
Fellowship’ has grown into something much more
than a Sendelica side project and has its own
personality and sense of musical adventure as
demonstrated through some fine live and studio
releases to date.
‘The
Imaginary Gallery’ is the result of a
collaboration with painter Rhiannon Jones who
was initially given some pieces of music for her
to paint an interpretation of what she heard and
indeed imagined. The deed was repaid with some
additional oil paintings for which a musical
interpretation was sought. The result is brought
together in this fine record, which comes with a
booklet of the paintings so you can immerse
yourself in the music and images or indeed use
them to inspire your own flights of the
imagination (hallucinatory or otherwise).
There
are eleven pieces, mostly under five minutes in
length and as such we are moving away from the
long form explorations that we’ve come to expect
from the Fellowship. Things get underway with
‘The Swynol Doorway’ where over a dense
undergrowth of environmental sound and field
recording, a gentle guitar melody and delicate
electronics glide and shimmer serenely and
rather beautifully. ‘Dancing With Waves’ is
essentially a guitar soli outing with a few
subtle embellishments and it conjures up a real
whiff of the sea air in its spacious, reflective
tone. ‘The Last Road Home’ bounces with echo
from simply strummed guitar and minimalist
melodies with a gentle warp and dissonance in
its slightly off kilter timing and overlays. It
has a fragile, melancholic feel that is
intensified by sparse strings and electronics
adding colour albeit subtle shades of grey.
‘Excalibur’ is more brooding and sets a darker
feel through the sparse Kosmische imbued guitar
where layers of melody weave, repeat and echo to
create a spacious and yet complex soundworld
that could easily be extended into a longer form
piece. ‘Mushroom Lake’ matches more spacey
guitar styles with birdsong that produces a kind
of pastoral kosmische with a darker, suspenseful
edge that has a very cinematic quality and
‘Martian Twilight’ continues this filmic feel
with its insistent acoustic riff and snatches of
soloing all wrapped up in an electronic drone.
‘The High Heeled Enchanted Path’ is short,
subdued and elegant before in ‘Brood Sea’ we get
our first clatter of drums in a gently
progressive rocker that raises the tempo and
actually brings to mind the lighter side of Rush
jamming with Gordon Giltrap in its feel and
sound. Lovely wave sounds colour ‘ The Moon and
the Mermaid’ which returns to a more laid back
and reflective sound before a darker feel once
again emerges in ‘Before the Storm’ where more a
more dramatic and dense space rock theme spells
out the violence of impending weather in its
jagged riff and soaring solo notes. Finishing
the record is ‘What Planet Are We On?’, a
question many of us may have asked over the past
9 months or so on a daily basis. Here the
fellowship treat us to a fractured riff and a
satisfyingly noisy squall of guitar soloing from
which they make their exit.
This
record is a further welcome step along the
fellowship’s hallucinatory highway. It’s a very
visual sound with strong themes such as the
elements and the sea and hints of Americana,
Kosmische and the soundscapes of Harold Budd or
Bill Nelson help to create quite a canvas. Where
a bigger, space rock or prog based sound comes
through it feels like the right time and the
right place and it doesn’t outstay its welcome
or upset the balance of the record. This may be
the best journey you can have without getting
fined so pack your hallucinatory bags and go do
it folks.
(Francis
Comyn)
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VARIOUS
ARTISTS – I GO TO SLEEP (LP/CD
on Morning Brake Records. Contact BigDaveTrending@gmail.com
for details and orders)
Now
here’s a novel idea, or at least a record that
comes in part from a book and the social media
conversations around it. ‘I Go To Sleep’ written
by Ray Davies is one of the canon of great songs
that cement his reputation as one of the major
songwriters to emerge from the sixties. Its
gorgeous melancholy has provided inspiration for
many covers over the years, most notably perhaps
the hit version by The Pretenders but also
myriad other takes from Peggy Lee to Zero 7 and
many other brave souls. When Andy Bracken during
the process of writing his novel ‘The Cut’ asked
a question about a song that resonated with
people and perhaps could inspire obsessive
record collecting many responses were received.
One in particular however stood out which
suggested this song for its individual
loveliness but also the poignant circumstances
of personal family tragedy and loss that
motivated the suggestion.
This
is Andy’s first foray into making records
through his Morning Brake imprint but many
readers will be aware of Andy’s previous
involvement in the early days of Fruits de Mer
Records. So as a result we now have this
extended play lathe cut record with five very
different covers of ‘I Go To Sleep’ for the
listener to compare, contrast and most
importantly enjoy.
The
opening track goes to The Lounge Bar Orchestra
with an arrangement based on easy listening and
exotica with a touch of psychedelic pop
sensibility, filmic elegance and thankfully more
than enough inventive instrumental touches and
flourishes in the arrangement to be firmly on
the side of Esquivel rather than kitsch. Sarah
Birch takes a relaxed approach to the song that
embraces its melancholy but adds warmth in the
brass arrangement and gentle jazz infused waltz
stylings whilst also maintaining a general feel
of smart sixties pop. I was reminded of the way
that The Unthanks have interpreted some songs
here which is a good thing. The Blue Giant Zeta
Puppies take the drama and energy up a notch or
three on their take with gothic psych pop energy
from the sixties and the early eighties in
abundance and an almost Phil Spector and the
Banshees feel which also had me thinking ‘Is Vic
There?’ Schizo Fun Addict create a decadent and
luxurious yet melancholy dream pop elegance on
their version with a rich, atmospheric sound
that sways and swoons and dives deep into 4AD
loveliness. The final version is delivered by
The Lost Stoned Pandas who ramp up the psych and
space rock heaviness and it does indeed travel
the spaceways a little but always comes back
home to the melody and never loses sight of the
song structure.
This
is an interesting and entertaining idea with a
varied and imaginative collection of cover
versions. Five is probably enough for one record
but they are well chosen, well delivered and
well worth your attention. If you were ever
minded to obsessively collect a song this is a
pretty good place to start and possibly stop but
don’t blame me if it leads to an empty wallet
and many restless hours on Discogs.
(Francis Comyn)
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BIG
SCENIC NOWHERE – LAVENDER BLUES EP
(LP/CD/Digital
on Heavy
Psych Sounds Records)
Desert
Rock/Stoner band Big Scenic Nowhere is still
relatively new, having been formed in 2019 by
Bob Balch of Fu Manchu (guitar, bass) and Gary
Arce of Yawning Man (guitar).
But in their so far short existence,
they’ve been mighty busy, having already
released the EP ‘Dying on the Mountain’ in 2019
and LP ‘Vision Beyond Horizon’ in January 2020,
before this terrific 23-minute EP.
For
Lavender Blues, as in the previous releases,
Balch and Arce have surrounded themselves with
some ace players, including Tony Reed (Mos
Generator; vocals, bass, guitar, synths); Bill
Stinson (Yawning Man; drums); Per Wiberg
(ex-Opeth; synths, piano); Daniel Mongrain
(Voivod; guitar); and Chris Goss (Masters of
Reality; guitar).
That’s a lot of guitarists, and it shows.
To
say Big Scenic Nowhere excels at setting a
desert/stoner vibe would be a massive
understatement.
The 13-minute title track – by far the
highlight of the EP - settles into a groove
positively dripping with atmosphere, and all
those guitars and synths resonate amongst the
sand and cactus.
The guitars sizzle – these guys are super
musicians – while the keys fill in a sound scape
that’s more like a desert sunset full of
deepening colors than a noon-day blaze.
The song takes its time and works its
magic and you won’t want it to stop, even at 13
minutes. And
in case you were wondering but I’m sure you
weren’t, it bears no relation whatsoever to the
17th century English folk song and
nursery rhyme “Lavender’s Blue (Dilly Dilly),”
which was recorded many times and was a hit for
Burl Ives back in 1948.
Just wanted to clear that one up.
Second
track “Blink of an Eye” is more in a classic
rock style. The
riffology rings out true, and Tony Reed was born
to be a rock and roll singer.
There are some great, compact guitar and
synth solos to round out the song.
Closer
“Labyrinths Fade” again embraces classic rock,
fusing it with Big Scenic Nowhere’s desert vibe.
It’s a stretched-out cruiser, all tricked
out with some seriously pro shredding.
I wish I could tell you who the axe man
was and give credit where credit’s due, amongst
all those superb guitarists, but unfortunately I
can’t. Tony
Reed again kills it on vocals.
Even
though it’s been a busy year-plus for Big Scenic
Nowhere, with one album and two EPs, I still
hope they’re planning another full LP sometime
soon. And
although Lavender Blues is an EP following up an
album (Vision Beyond Horizon), it’s better than
the LP, IMHO. This
band’s on the move upwards.
They can space-groove, they can jam, they
can write good songs, and they can bring in some
real heavy hitters to help, all with consummate
professionalism.
Finally, a shout-out’s in order to Max
Loeffler for his excellent cover artwork.
(Mark
Feingold)
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DEAN
McPHEE – WITCH’S
LADDER (LP/CD
on Hood
Faire
Records/Cargo
Records)
The
South Pennines and indeed the North of England
are blessed with a rich culture and history
that’s ingrained in its dramatic and mystery
filled landscapes and towns and villages but
also in a wealth of stories, poetry and music
that tell the tales of people and places from
distant yesteryears and the here and now. Now I
may have mentioned this before but it is worth
repeating and it’s also worth saying before
going any further that Dean McPhee is a skilful
and passionate storyteller writing and
performing music inspired by folklore, mysticism
and the landscapes in the ever fascinating
north.
‘Witch’s
Ladder is the much anticipated follow up to
2018’s wonderful ‘Four Stones’ and sees Dean
once more deliver a solo recording accompanied
here by his trusty Telecaster, valve amplifier
and various effects without using overdubs. Echo
and reverb are used cleverly and create a small
hours or twilight feel where all is quiet and
you can give the music and the images it
conjures up your full attention. Dean’s work has
been compared to the likes of Loren Connors,
Dylan Carson and Popol Vuh but as I’ve noted in
pervious reviews of Dean’s work there is a
strong grounding in folk traditions from the UK
and beyond underpinning the spacious exploratory
ambience and Kosmische textures that envelope
the listener. The striking album artwork is a
1933 painting by spiritual abstract artist Agnes
Pelton entitled ‘The Primal Wing’ and before a
note is played it sets the scene for a musical
journey that is both personal and shrouded in
mystery and imagination.
The
opening piece ‘The Alchemist’ has an
accompanying video of a misty lonesome walk at
Bolton Woods Quarry affording dramatic views
over Bradford. It’s an inspired pairing (check
it out on YouTube) and the music and visuals go
perfectly together. Fragments of old melancholic
folk melodies emerge from a wintery sonic mist.
It’s brooding but not dark with subtle melodic
shades of grey wrapped up in the big coat of the
guitar and warming effects to take away the
chill. ‘The Alder Tree’ follows with a gentle
underlying sway like an empty swing in the
breeze and an atmospheric and sparse slide
guitar melody that has a touch of cosmic Hank
Marvin loveliness adding a little Spring colour.
Haunting and ethereal picked guitar and subtle
washes of effects slowly and gently cradle the
piece creating deeper textures and giving it a
Kosmische sheen. ‘Red Lebanese’ may or may not
be a reference to a relaxation product of choice
and indeed it is much more of a textural
soundscape to lose yourself in with waves of
reverberating, pulsing, rippling and slowly
shifting drones and lingering e bow notes
weaving a hypnotic tapestry of icy and delicate
beauty. ‘Eskdale Path’ is another spacious
melodic travelogue cloaked in elegant desolation
and indeed splendid isolation. The layers of
guitar textures, e bow and picked melodic
wanderings create a mixture of feelings from
contemplation to exhilaration through cleverly
placed splashes of colour and subtle drones that
perfectly complement each other and convey a
filmic quality. The title track and longest
piece is spellbinding, if you’ll forgive the
virtual pun. The track is essentially in three
parts with the opening section spacious, fragile
and melodic with gently dramatic and ascending
peaks of soloing guitar that once again draw on
older melodies and sounds taking them to a new
place. The middle section is more intense and
structured with a fuller and more complex brew
of guitar sounds and effects on top of a
repeating melodic loop before returning to a
more airy and open conclusion featuring slide
guitar that adds a trace of country blues and
eastern melody in the ambient mix. It’s an
elegant, emotional, yearning sound and a
memorable finale to a very fine record.
For
those familiar with Dean’s previous work (and if
you aren’t you should be) there are many
familiar and comforting touchstones here. The
sound is however subtly and noticeably evolving,
perhaps a result of Dean’s growing confidence in
his sound and solo approach to recording. This
is a beautiful and evocative record rich in
imagery and with a compositional intelligence
that impressively squeezes a wealth of emotion,
colour and texture from the simple tools of a
Telecaster, valve amplifier and various effects
pedals to give the listener a valuable gallery
of sound paintings to get lost in whatever the
time of day or year. A highly recommended start
to your new year.
(Francis Comyn)
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SONGS OF
THE GREEN PHEASANT - WHEN THE WEATHER CLEARS
(CD/DL Music
|
Rusted Rail (bandcamp.com)
)
Sounding like a well-rehearsed band
playing joyously together this project is, in
fact, the work of Duncan Sumpner, a Stockport
based musician with an ear for melody, the
delicious tunes wrapped in hazy washes that lift
them lightly to drift amongst the landscape like
soft, beguiling clouds.
Right
from
the off “Garden Hook” reels you in bringing a
feel of nostalgia and longing through its slowly
revolving chords and strings, hints of
percussion and drone giving the song a ritual
feel that is fuzzy and warm. Following a similar
path, “The Wormwood Star Falls” has some
glorious vocals that flutter above the strummed
guitar before drums and distortion take the song
ever higher sounding like BJH if they were a
Dream Pop band. Suitably psychedelic the tune is
a standout for me setting the tone for that
which follows.
With
a slightly fuzzy centre that wraps around you
like a favourite cardigan, “Sisters of the
District” is just beautiful, whilst “Northbound
Trains” has the air of Simon and Garfunkel about
it, sweet harmonies and an innocent charm that
is easy to enjoy and lasts long in the memory.
Light
and airy, “Hello” is a fabulous pop tune that is
happy and filled with sweetness, a tune that
will put a skip in your step and a smile on your
face, much needed in these difficult times, the
following “I” taking the listener down a more
sombre path, a slow and droning tune that
reminds me of Gorkys Zygotic Mynci, with its
awkward, in a good way, harmonies.
Over
ten songs the quality of the tunes never
diminishes, the whole album flowing beautifully
together, imagine drifting down a river as the
sun sets just watching the scenery glide by, all
this personified by “In Very Truth” the opening
of which reminds me of Kevin Ayers before it
sets of down a long rambling path, the journey
far more important than the destination, the
hypnotic riff and birdsong allowing your mind to
drift where it will, timeless and delightful at
every turn.
Finally
we
arrive at “Redundancy”, an Eno-esque piano
calming that rambling mind giving us time for
re-entry before a final sudden ending.
As
with all the best music this album takes a while
to settle needing a few listens before all the
layers are revealed, never less than enchanting,
a journey worth taking.
(Simon Lewis)
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JIM
GHEDI – IN THE FURROWS
OF COMMON PLACE
(CD
from
basinrock.co.uk
)
This
is
Jim’s third solo album following on from ‘A Hymn
For Ancient Land’. With this new record Jim has
made a record which concentrates a lot more on
his vocals, it is also a record very much rooted
in current themes, both socially and
politically.
For
this
new outing the band is Jim playing guitar,
harmonium and singing with Neal Heppleston
playing double bass and violin with Guy Whitaker
playing drums and Sally Rowan smith playing
trumpet and flugel horn. It was recorded in the
Outer Hebrides at Black Bay Studios.
“It
was great having us all together for a week up
there in Loch Roag, eating and living together
creating music on the north- western isles.
The first day it snowed and I looked out the
window onto the Atlantic sea to see the snow
on the hills, the ice on the water, the birds
wheeling overhead and a deep silence. I felt
glad my friends were there, humble to have
this opportunity to record music with the
people I care about”
Where
his
previous albums have very much concentrated on
his excellent guitar playing, this one is very
much more of a folk rock record and sounds as
old as the hills, very Celtic and traditional.
It is also quite short, less than forty minutes
in duration.
This
fabulous
record starts with ‘Common Thread’ formed from a
collection of local stories concerned with the
disappearing countryside and ever encroaching
privatisation. ‘The Lamentations Of Round Oak
Waters’ is inspired by a John Clare poem that is
about the enclosure act, and reflects the
current period of time with Jim’s local
Sheffield council overriding public protests, by
allowing half of the counties 36,000 trees to be
cut down. Of land clearance and poverty, Neal’s
violin and Sally’s brass emphasising Jim’s
droning harmonium on a very sombre tune.
‘Mytholm’ is a delightful instrumental Jim’s
finger picked guitar and Neal’s violin dancing
around each other underpinned by double bass
‘Stolen
Ground’ deals very much with our current
government’s austerity measures; again it’s
quite a sombre song which develops into quite a
dramatic full band sound. It’s a fine mix of
pretty instrumentation, with dark lyrical social
commentary and a banging tune, full of dramatic
stops and starts. ‘Ah Cud Hew’ is a cover of a
song by Ed Pickford who grew up in County Durham
and concerns the miners and their plight with
pits being closed down. ‘Beneath The Willow’
again sees a full folk rock band sound, fleshing
out a harrowing song of alcoholism, poverty,
depression and mental health, with a chorus of
“This Flimsy House Is Falling Down, With Us
Inside”. This bleeds into ‘Beneath The Willow
Part 11’ an instrumental, in which the band
members emphasise the melody and put in a spell
binding performance with the various instruments
dancing around each other. The album closes out
with a song alternately named either ‘Edward’ or
‘Son David’, It is a lengthy ballad which was
thought to be completely lost from the oral
tradition for well over as hundred years. It was
directly inspired by Jeannie Robertson’s version
of a traditional Scottish Ballad.
(Andrew
Young)
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SPIRAL
WAVE NOMADS – FIRST
ENCOUNTERS
(LP
from
twinlakesrecords.bandcamp.com
)
This
is
the second outing for Spiral Wave Nomads. The
first one was created when the guys swapped
files via emails. This one sees them getting
together and is a document of the first time
they played together; hence the title. It
features Michael Kiefer on drums and Eric
Hardiman on guitar. Just the two of them,
feeding off each other on four tracks. It is a
split release through Feeding Tube records and
Michael’s Twin Lakes Records.
The
first
track ‘Evidence Of New Gravitation’ is slow to
coalesce, it’s a lengthy workout, the guys
settle into a groove laden piece in which they
are probing and questing, it has a raw sound
with a bit of overdubbing, but is basically two
players feeling each other out over a lengthy
jam. This is followed by ‘Fitful Embers’ which
crackles and spits into life, the instruments
are utilised in a deconstructed piece, with
feedback and drum fills creating a spacey,
trippy instrumental of note, the very opposite
of easy listening, its harsh and clanging,
humming and distorted and way out there.
Things
settle
down a little for ‘Radiant Drifter’ which again
takes a while to take off which it duly does,
with Eric’s coruscating, scouring guitar laid
over the top of Michael’s terrific drum
patterns, it has shades of Bay Area rock bands,
the sort of thing you may have heard escaping
and bleeding into the night from the various
ballrooms in the late sixties.
The
album
ends with the lengthy ‘Of A Similar Mind’
psychedelic guitar patterns and plenty of cymbal
rich percussion combine and gel pushing the
track to the outer reaches, an acid rock jam, in
which the two of them merge and splinter off
each other. Eric’s guitar at times like Garcia’s
and other times like Cipollina’s,
creating a metallic spangle of notes.
Someone described their sound as a sonic
crumble, which is pretty much a perfect
description of their sound, the sound of two
players in a room, creating some of the best
freeform avant –garde instrumental rock music
around today.
(Andrew
Young)
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SPURIOUS
TRANSIENTS - SOMETHING STRANGE CAME OUT OF THE
SKIES
(LP
from
Spurioustransients.bandcamp.com
)
Third
album
by Gavin Lloyd Wilson’s Spurious Transients.
Gavin has played in the Welsh group Sendelica as
well as handling bass duties with several other
local bands. This new album deals with various
sightings of UFO’s over in west Wales, during
the summer of 1977. The band deal in
psychedelia, Krautrock, Trip-hop, dub, public
information films, Forteana and UFO’s amongst
other genres.
Kicking
off
with the lengthy title track in which sitars and
tanpura are joined by dubby bass, it’s a
narrated tale, of weird things of an
unidentifiable origin, by school children,
corroborated by the headmaster in Broad Haven,
out west in Wales. This is followed by first
hand reports of a strange craft, rather like a
rather large Easter egg. Pendulum shaped it
landed quickly, in a halo of orange lights,
silvery green with a dome. A tall man,
motionless in space and hovering for half an
hour at least, a person in a silvery green suit
according to one of the school children appears
in ‘Testimony 1’. Strangeness in the air is
recollected in ‘Freak Weather Woodpecker’, where
very strange weather is experienced. Canada also
experienced odd weather at the same time which
they duly code named “Woodpecker”, blaming it on
the Russians. A brilliant gleaming silver
football in the sky is remembered by a Welsh
lady, in the short ‘Backwards, Frontwards, Left
To Right’. In
‘The Welsh Triangle’ things are narrowed down to
the Pembrokeshire coast, where strange goings on
with the RAF and the military are examined,
creating more questions than answers. More
eyewitness accounts of strange phenomena are
recalled, when the cattle experience odd
conditions in ‘Bovine Bilocation’, a queasy tune
of teleporting time- travelling bovines; half
sung and half narrated by Gail Storr.
Side
two
begins with ‘Mystery Object Over Llangwm’. At
sometime during the school summer holidays a
strange occurrence, whilst enjoying a picnic by
a Welsh couple is recalled, an object low down
is spotted out towards the west coast, a silver
cigar shaped craft which hung in the air for a
good half hour, in complete silence before
completely disappearing. A tall being of over
seven foot, decked out head to toe in silver is
remembered in ‘Creeping Up Behind You’, replete
with bleeping synths and dubby bass. Conscious
beings from another galaxy are encountered in
‘The Silver Giants’, seven foot beings, with odd
eyes, levitate silently, scaring those who saw
them. On ‘Close Encounters On The Road To
Solva’, we are now genuinely spooked, when a
dark ship manifests itself to a couple walking
home, a being with strange breathing apparatus
appears alongside them freaking them out.
Another strange sighting by school children and
residents of Solva is remembered. A huge object
appearing in ‘Testimony 11’, it was definitely
not a weather balloon, according to those who
saw it darkens the sky. ‘Shooting Star’ has
plenty of synths, samples and percussion, in
which these strange objects are investigated by
the MOD, a local prankster from Milford Haven is
held responsible, but really the Ministry of
Defence are fooling no one. The album concludes
with ‘Conclusions, Delusions, Theories And
Closure’ where strange sights over the
Haverfordwest West branch of Safeway’s car park
are examined.
My
conclusion
is that there is definitely something in the
water in Wales. I enjoyed this album immensely,
pure escapism that is very much needed, and the
children who attended Broad Haven school in that
summer of 1977 still very much hope that the
truth will eventually be revealed.
(Andrew
Young)
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THE
CYRILLIC TYPEWRITER – PERMANENT COLOURS
(
LP from Jaz
Records )
It
is always a pleasure to welcome a new Cyrillic
Typewriter album through the door, especially as
each release achieves greater levels of
maturity, the music seemingly becoming more
minimalist with each release, sounds stripped
down to their basics allowing emotion and purity
to shine.
Stretched out to the ten minute mark,
“Torn Pockets” is a free floating drone that
contains elements of Phillip Glass, Insect
Factory and Eno, the gently undulations
decorated with fluttering notes and a warm
nostalgic glow, a sheltered spot in a sunny
garden allowing you time for res and
contemplation. Even more relaxing, “No
Landscape” takes you within, a softly spoken
ambient piece that has similar tones to
Vangelis, quietly confident in its approach.
On “Naive Rhythm”, processed by Loscil,
a pulsing beat (as the name suggests)
pushes the ambience forward whilst unsettling
melody lines create uncertainty, taking the
music away from its mellow predecessors and
adding another layer of texture to the
collection whilst a deep rumbling undertone adds
more tension and a hint of early Tangerine
Dream.
After a very satisfying side one, there
is much expectation about side two and I am
happy to say that it does not disappoint as “New
Noise”, also processed by Loscil, takes of for
the skies, a high string synth drone levitating
from the speakers, briefly freezing time and
demanding your attention before fluttering note,
bass pulses and beautiful string arrangements
emerge and recede, each one perfectly timed
adding a delicate beauty to the music.
Equally as seductive, “Their Banter” is
delightfully light and airy, rippling melody tip
toeing through drifting fields of strings, the
great outdoors beckoning to your heart as you
let the sounds wash over you the smell of
honeysuckle and the sounds of bees wrapped up
tight within, just wonderful.
Finally, the brief “The Usual Daydream”
is a woozy, pulsing piece with piano notes
creeping around, different but still in keeping
with the rest of the album.
Well rounded, beautifully crafted and
timeless, this is an album that is going to be
well loved for many years to come. (Simon
Lewis)
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THE
KITCHEN CYNICS - BEADS
UPON AN ABACUS
(LP/DL
from
thetrilogytapes.bandcamp.com
)
Sometime
last
year The Kitchen Cynics was approached by Jack
Murphy, an American fan who was offering to find
a record deal so that some of his favourite
tracks could be released on vinyl. Naturally
Alan Davidson said yes, although there seemed a
fairly small chance of success. However miracles
do happen and The Trilogy Tapes label, not
usually associated with Psych Folk music, said
yes and the result is this excellent compilation
that gathers together tracks from ancient
cassette releases as well as some newer tunes.
Hats off to Jack Murphy, a job well done.
Opening with, “Theme for Gwen” a sweet
twinkling instrumental either about Gwen John or
a drunk sweary aunt, Side quickly moves on as
“Dr Guild” takes the much loved theme of local
history, the tale of a much loved 19th
century physician and benefactor, the music
typically Kitchen Cynics, the lyrics poetic and
to the point, the perfect introduction to Alan's
music for someone who has never heard him
before.
With a strange, jagged rhythm played on
a Harmonium (?), “Mistress Forsyth's Jump” deals
with the cold of winter and has some delightful
textures and drones in its rattling fadeout,
whilst “Holburning” is an improvised piano duet
with Susan Matthew also inspired by a winters
morning, the music writhing and undulating each
player working off the other beautifully.
Rounding off side one is the quite
magnificent “Persian Carpet in Reverse”, seven
minutes of Psychedelic
Folk wonder, that talks of life's imperfections
over a shimmering musical backing that is
hypnotic, lysergic yet also melodic and
hummable, the echoed vocal delivery adding to
the mysterious vibe of the tune.
In 1964 Aberdeeen was hit by a typhoid
outbreak, Alan was happy because the schools
were shut, later he wrote “Dr McQueen Feeds the
Media Frenzy” about the daily updates, all of
which sounds very current, the music a brief
cloud of echo and drone.
Sounding very ritualistic and
mysterious, “Phosphorous Tenement” is in fact, a
list of words the Alan likes the sound of,
delivered in a whisper with echo, the music
suitably trippy with gothic organ a-plenty,
reminding me of Kevin Ayers with its chattering
piano and surreal wonder.
Easily summoning visions of its subject
matter, “Bluetit Babies” is a lovely
instrumental track that will lift your mood as
if Spring is around the corner, which it
currently is, before the title track tells the
tale of Lord Byron's Daughter, guitar line by
Jess Yong, the music swaying and drifting in
melancholic swathes perfectly suiting the soft
delivery of the lyrics and their content.
Finally, “The Entepreneurs” is an angry
tune dealing with conservative values and their
abuse, the perfect song for these times as we
watch the party betray an entire nation with
their greed and incompetence, seemingly all we
can do is help and support those around us,
fight fear with love, something suggested by the
sweetness of the clarinet that hovers above the
rest of the tune.
Housed in a sleeve featuring a collage
by Alan this album is a delight from start to
finish, an excellent place to discover the music
of The Kitchen Cynics or indeed, to add to the
ever-growing collection in my case. (Simon
Lewis)
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BLACK
PUMAS – BLACK PUMAS (DELUXE EDITION)
(LP/CD/Digital
on ATO
Records)
Psychedelic
soul duo Black Pumas have come a long way in a
brief time. Charismatic
front man Eric Burton was busking the Santa
Monica pier a few short years ago before making
his way to Austin, Texas.
Doing more busking there, he was
discovered on a street corner by a friend of
guitarist/songwriter/producer Adrian Quesada,
who brought the two together in 2018.
Quesada, who’d played guitar for Latin
funk band Grupo Fantasma, was working on some
retro-funk and R&B tracks, and the two made
a perfect pair.
Burton
and Quesada, under the moniker Black Pumas,
would release the singles “Black Moon Rising”
and “Colors,” both on this album, in 2018-2019.
They performed live at Austin’s C-Boys
Heart & Soul Bar, which would go on to
become a Cavern Club of sorts for them in 2019.
This led to the original Black Pumas LP
on ATO Records in 2019, which would earn them
rousing plaudits, and a brace of TV appearances,
as word-of-mouth spread of their prowess like
wildfire.
In
late 2020, Black Pumas released this padded
Deluxe Edition, effectively doubling the size of
the package. It’s
the rare case of an expanded edition actually
improving considerably on the original; so much
so that this year they’re nominated for three
Grammy awards, including album of the year.
Eric
Burton’s vocals are soulful and impassioned.
He channels Curtis/Marvin/Otis in the
best possible ways, while injecting his own
personality and je ne sais quoi into the
mould, and provides a bit of a salve for the
untimely passing of both Sharon Jones and
Charles Bradley.
Adrian Quesada brings production savvy
and songwriting and musician chops.
Maybe surprisingly, he cites Rodriguez’s
rediscovered 1970 classic “Sugar Man” as another
influence. Burton
also plays guitar and writes, so the lines of
who does what are sometimes blurred in what can
only be described as an ultra-successful
partnership. The
album crystalizes a period in the early
Seventies when Motown, Stax and their colleagues
grew more urban, cosmopolitan and gritty, often
reflecting on the troubles in the world and
their communities.
This can be reflected in the name Black
Pumas, obviously a nod to the Black Panthers.
The
album literally begins with a drum roll on
“Black Moon Rising,” which I got a kick out of,
as if to say “ladies and gentlemen, your
attention please, here is a group you’re gonna
love -
Black Pumas!” Although
the album has classic soul coursing through its
veins, there’s one aspect that makes Black Pumas
rather unique. On
several tracks, such as the single “Colors” and
“Touch the Sky,” they feature acoustic guitars,
both in the intros and throughout the songs,
creating a new genre in the process, psychedelic
folk soul blues funk.
It makes for an interesting gumbo, while
on “Sweet Conversations,” the original album’s
curious, lovely closer and coda, Burton and
Quesada ditch the big band altogether and dive
fully into acoustic guitar, a soul-stirring
psychedelic folk gem.
It
would be interesting to see if Black Pumas tug
further on that thread on their next release.
It’s quite possible, as Burton has
mentioned that the next album will have more
psychedelic aspects, including a track he wrote
while microdosing medicinally on mushrooms.
The
bonus LP includes, among other goodies, a cover
of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car,” which pulls off
the feat of being better than the original.
The “live in studio” editions of
“Colors,” “OCT 33” and “Confines” flesh out the
originals, adding more instrumentation, backing
vocals and fine keyboard and guitar solos.
Plus, there are three more originals,
“I’m Ready,” “Red Rover,” and “Black Cat,” each
of them every bit as good as the tracks on the
original album.
That
Black Pumas have garnered so much mainstream
recognition so quickly speaks not only to their
undeniable talent, but to the encouraging truth
that there’s very much an audience for this
style of music now and going forward.
(Mark
Feingold)
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