MARY AND THE RAM – the studio project of Kiran Tanna from The Nightmare Generator and Dom Smith from The Parasitic Twins – have unveiled the video for their latest single ECLIPSE.
Recorded at Melrose Yard Studios in York, UK and co-produced between Kiran and New York based producer Kallie Marie (Explosives for Her Majesty) the band have also hooked in the talents of Dave Ogilvie (The Weeknd, Nine Inch Nails, Skinny Puppy) for mixing, with mastering by Howie Weinberg (Thirty Seconds to Mars, Mars Volta, Nirvana).
The video for ECLIPSE was animated by Duncan Catterall. You can see more of his work here: http://duncancatterall.com/
MARY AND THE RAM have recently expanded their live sound, adding Edward Alan Logie (Modern Mood Swings) and Sarah Shiels (Black Delta Movement) as full time members.
Oh wow this track is so so cool, so cool it hurts. It’s kinda indie but then again not very indie at all, it’s more something that’s British psychedelic pop with weird lovely hints of early early Bowie. It has hints of World Party and Dukes of the Stratosphere. It sits in a niche all of it’s own.
Musically this is fab, or as we might say ‘fab gear’. It’s layered yet at the same time has space. It’s basically guitar, a synth thing going on and drums, but at times it feels so much bigger than that might suggest. And the vocals are just so good. And it has great words. The band say this about the song
‘The song is about how we make the mistake of letting toxic, thought controlling people into our lives and refuse to see them for what they are. The song ended up being pieced together after a couple years of different relationships, friendships and disappointments, fluctuating between the realisation of what people are doing to you and the semi-pathetic self-pity that comes with it.’
Lyrically it’s brutally honest, scarily honest. These are words that are worth listening to properly.
And the words are all the more effective because the music isn’t brutal – it’s the contrast you understand. And the song is full of these touches – there’s a ringing phone at the start of the track that makes huge sense. And it has a tune that is so damn earwormy, by listen number two I was singing along at the top of my voice.
I can’t recommend this highly enough, it’s a lovely wonderful song.
Northlight is a project put together by Martin McGroarty, a songwriter and musician who has many years of songwriting and performance behind him. Martin currently lives in the Calder Valley and the other singers and musicians on the album are friends from around there (There’s more about Martin and the people involved in this album below). The songs are a mixture of those written by Martin, co-writes and one cover of a Welsh song written by Catrin Gerallt who also co-wrote a couple of the other songs.
You’d expect somebody with Martin’s experience to produce, along with the musicians and singers collaborating on this, to make something that is musically great – and there’s some fantastic playing on this album, vocally impressive and really well produced and arranged. So I’ll start by saying it is, there’s no song on this that doesn’t impress. The songwriting – both the words and tunes (so to speak) – is equally as impressive. Style wise the songs range from jazzy R’n’B to folk.
There is, to be honest, something of a slightly retro feel to the music. This isn’t a criticism, it’s actually a compliment, it has that concentration on putting the song across – the words are important – as well as showcasing the players and singers. This reminds me of music from the late 60s and early 70s. However it isn’t completely retro, that’s a feel, there is something of a ‘brought up to date’ thing going on.
I’d not going to be doing a ‘track by track’, I’ll be picking out favourites. Album opener ‘In Too Deep’ is a jazzy Latin tinged thing with lovely vocals by Ruth Gardziel and a sax break to die for. I say ‘jazzy Latin tinged thing’ but there are parts of this which kinda remind me of Joni Mitchell. It drives along in a great way, and has a tune that stays with you.
‘Late Life Believer’ has something of a Tom Waits thing going on – more early Tom than later Tom – if I’m honest. It’s jazzy, kinda RnB-ish and the vocal – by Dave Rigg – is in that spoken bluesy way. The standout thing about this track is the flute. It has me in mind of an album my Dad had – oh do I wish I could remember who it was by – that I loved.
For ‘Share The Gold’ the feel shifts into 70s’ balled. It’s basically guitar, voice – Antonia Bycraft in this case – and oh so delicate drums. With a lovely restrained sax solo. ‘Rainstorm’ has me in mind of that classic folk-rock sound.
‘Cân Yr Haf’ (Summer Song) with vocals by Catrin Gerallt is a track that left me reeling – it’s just beautiful. Voice and guitar in perfect harmony.
This may not sound like the ‘sort of thing I love’ given my rather obviously liking for loud and difficult music but if you’ve been keeping up with my reviews (you have haven’t you?) you’ll know that I love a well written, played and sang song; and these are very definitely that.
The songs and music on this album are quietly impressive. It’s music that gently seeps into your head and quietly takes up residence there. It’s music that soothes and beguiles. And we all need music that does that sometimes.
The sounds of Aretha Franklin in her gritty soul mode, Think, Chain of Fools, the heart rending melodies of Brian Wilson, In My Room, Don’t Worry Baby and the blitz attack of Cream grabbed the heart and soul of this fellow in his early adolescence and entranced him into the limitless joys of music in all its manifestations. The constant weekly output of the 60’s meant music was a daily topic of peer chat and argument but that wasn’t enough, it had to be an active engagement.
So the journey started with £30 to buy an old Ludwig drum kit of an old lush from the “Barracks” area of town. It certainly made an impression on the neighbours but it got him into school based groups like Creative Mind playing the oddest mixture of music from The Doors to The Hollies. The charismatic frontman was a goth (slept with an open coffin over his bed) decades before they they became part of youth culture. He prematurely entered another coffin via a drug overdose, an early casualty.
Drumming was looking like the route to go but world events interfered when having left his kit in a local pub while he buggered off to London to taste real freedom, he returned home to find pub and kit had become victims of the “Troubles”.
Ok so a transportable instrument was required and that had to be a guitar. Focusing on “wooden music, all the Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young singalongs were learnt and played on the dope gets you through times of no money better than money gets you through times of no dope nights, which were many. That was all very well and good but things got a wee bit more exotic when he having now left school hit the open road and found himself in Aix en Provence busking and meeting international musicians, troubadours of the very same open road and the learning curve shot up to embrace John Lee Hooker, JB Lenoir, Bert Jansch and many more. This period included taking in a trip to fascist Spain, with the coal scuttle helmeted military/police and purchase of a quality bespoke Spanish guitar.
The learning curve bottomed for a while, actually far too long, on return to Blighty with the loss of said guitar while living in the barbiturate fuelled junkie world of early 70’s London bedsit land.
It took a period travelling in the US a number of years later to reignite the musical flame and on return armed with a quality axe, he began to start playing in bands, most better to forget about apart from the eccentric and ground breaking Suns of Arqa – https://www.sunsofarqa.co.uk/ – .
In the process of forming a “Western Swing “ band he met up with a singer and started such a band which then, sensibly, went on to do original soul/r’n’b/country flavoured songs. They, The Well Knit Frames (some of them were of that stature) were a star band in the Greater Manchester area with regular appearances at the legendary Band on The Wall.
Co writing with this singer led to what seemed like the perfect poker hand, a publishing contract, management contract and then ace of spades a massive 2 album recording deal with EMI (the uber label of the day) recording at A&M studios Los Angeles – Herb Alpert didn’t fritter his money in the stereotypical West Coast manner – and getting Glyn Johns as producer-http://glynjohns.com/, who had produced, mixed, engineered such as The Rolling Stones, Joe Cocker, Joan Armatrading and The Eagles. Add to that some fantastic musicians of the day – definitely one for the vinyl oldies here – such as Bill Payne and Richie Hayward from Little Feat, Steve Lukather from Toto, Michael Landau from Joni Mitchell Band and Mr Wide Eyed and Legless himself, Andy Fairweather Low. The albums were called “Blue Slipper and “The Weather Inside” – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Slipper https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weather_Inside
This two album extravaganza flattered to deceive as they say in the horse racing world and sales though good in Europe were not what was hoped for in UK. A transfer was in order so we went from Manchester City to mid table Wolves and another album was recorded with RCA produced by a lovely man called Bob Andrews off Brinsley Schwarz and The Rumour – This album was called “Companion Gal” http://www.neworleanspiano.com/
You make your own luck in this business but sometimes you can be shortchanged and 2 weeks after the release of this album RCA were bought by BMG who immediately dropped all those acts that were not already top major sellers. Boohoo but you realise you are not in this business just to make money and and buy a pile in Surrey, its about the doing and the making so the intrepid duo went back to their roots, started playing the Art Centre and club circuit with a small band and made another album on their own label called “Notes on Desire” which is a less produced, jazzy r’n’b style album with a couple of original (!) covers, Anita O’Day’s “I Told I loved You Now Get Out” and Billie Holiday’s “I Want More”.
The band toured regularly until 1997 when your man decided to take a break from it all and focus on earning some steady crust for his brood. This also meant ending his association with the co writer of all those years.
Music making is a life long thing and therefore sometimes has to take a back seat to other more significant life events. For such reasons he found himself away from music writing and recording for some time.
However during these barren years he played with the odds and some of the sods of the valley such as the Might Inseminators and The Free Sandwiches. A more regular activity has been working with the 844s who write and play 90% original material in a dance bluesy r’n’b style.
But the time did come when the desire to write and record again finally started, initially, as occupational therapy, working with a couple of good friends who were actively writing and recording as Uncle Wally and Uncle Steve
This led to recording a couple of EPs and finally the album “Late Life Believer”. This has involved him meeting and working with many of singers and players in the small but perfectly formed small town and valley where he resides I.e. Hebden Bridge in the Calder Valley.
The album offers a range of music styles from jazzy r’n’b to folk. It is no way a concept album but reflects Northlights musical writing diversity and ability to work with various partners.
Singers and players on the album
Singers
Ruth Gardziel In Too Deep Dave Rigg Late Life Believer Steve Tilston New Time & Place Richard Woodcock Home To You and El Valle and BVs on Paint Your World Antonia Bycraft Share The Gold and Float Away Catrin Gerallt Rainstorm, Hello Goodbye Day and Summer Song Des Horsfall Paint Your World Gareth Scott My Dear Friend Rebecca Roberts (BVs) on In Too Deep and Rainstorm
Writers by track
IN TOO DEEP Martin & Catrin
LATE LIFE BELIEVER Martin & Dave
NEW TIME AND PLACE Martin
PAINT YOUR WORLD Martin
SHARE THE GOLD Martin
RAINSTORM Martin & Catrin
Home to you Martin & Dave
FLOAT AWAY Martin & Catrin
HELLO GOODBYE DAY Martin & Catrin
EL VALLE Martin & Richard
CÂN YR HAF (Summer Song) Catrin
MY DEAR FRIEND Martin
Players
Leigh Stothard drums and percussion Hugh Bradley double bass and mandolin Martin McGroarty electric and acoustic guitars, percussion and melodica Steve Andrews lead guitar (Paint Your World & El Valle) and organ Rod Mason saxs, trumpet and flute
Recorded at Hebden Bridge Underground Studios Linden Mill Hebden and at
Uncle Wally & Uncle Steve’s The Shed
‘Burning Parish’ tackles the difficult subject of religion and of finding your own way in the world. And yes, this is an alternative rock song so it does that quiet/loud thing but it does it in a sort of impassioned ballad sort of way. This may wrongly imply that it isn’t heavy on the guitars, it is, it has crunching guitars to die for. But it also has some of the most wrung out vocals I’ve heard in a long time, Ethan puts his heart, soul, mind and body into those vocals. It’s those vocals that got me, that marked out as ‘not run of the mill’ alternative rock.
I also liked, no loved, that the track isn’t produced to a point of polished perfection, it actually sounds like a live band. The drumming is sparse and inventive, it has backing vocals that are fantastic.
Look I get that you may be saying ‘not another alternative rock song with soaring vocals and crunching guitars’ but this is a song that’s worth you spending some of your precious time taking a listen.
The info
Distorted Sky are an alternative rock band from Leeds
Ethan Aldwinkle – Vocals/Rhythm Guitar
Adam Gardner – Lead Guitar
Beth Pickles – Bass Guitar
Luke Gardner – Drums/Percussion
The Parish was packed, sold out packed, stuck in the position you managed to find near the stage packed, impossible to even scrawl notes packed (in my case) for Canadian band Monster Truck. Before getting the review invite Monster Truck were a band I’d never even heard of, one listen to some of their stuff and I was very much up for it. And apparently this was the only sold out date on this tour by the band, so that’s one up for Yorkshire right there.
Before I go on, I go to heavy rock and metal gigs for fun but I’ve never actually reviewed one, so two bands that were completely new to me was probably not the best choice for my first heavy rock review. Still life is about challenges (as one of my friends usefully reminded me), so let’s get into the review.
Pink Cigs
Support was provided by Sheffield band Pink Cigs. Rather restricted to a small strip of stage by Monster Truck’s equipment they played a great set of what I’d call ‘classic heavy rock’ – although they describe what they do as ‘fuzzy’ rock ‘n’ roll. And yep, some of what they do is in that NWoBHM vein, they’re from Sheffield after all.
Although some of their songs sounded a bit samey, they do this swapping of lead vocals thing which really keeps up the interest. I especially loved a song called – I think ‘Nightstalker’. The band can play, OK, they really know their stuff. Both guitarists have different styles which again really keeps the attention. And as is usual with me I really liked the drumming.
As it’s my first time in seeing them the standard ‘I’d like to see them again’ applies but I really liked what Pink Cigs do.
And now to the main attraction. In the gap between bands The Parish got more packed, if that was possible. There was a buzz, a buzz you could feel.
Monster Truck
As Monster Truck took the stage, the crowd was already singing, I began to wonder exactly what I had let myself in for. What I had let myself in for was a hugely long set of rock. Monster Truck do that ‘classic rock’ thing of having a keyboard player, doing that classic rock organ but what they do isn’t restricted at all – if it has the word rock in it, they do, and they do it incredibly well. They do classic heavy rock, southern rock, country rock, rock anthems, almost metal-ish stuff. About the only things with rock in them they don’t do are alt-rock and punk rock. The variety is breath-taking.
The playing and the vocals are way way good. Jon, an imposing stage presence, plays cool bass and sings with a great voice; Jer lays down some wonderful guitar in all sorts of styles, his slow blues playing is amazing; Brandon rocks the keys and Steve plays some really great and inventive drumming.
Their music sounds like stuff you’ve heard before and loved, and at the same time new. They may be influenced by some classic rock bands but the mix and the influences of the more up to date come through to make it fresh. And at the end of the day what they do is great good time, leave you with a huge grin on your face rock music, do you honestly need anything else. I didn’t, and nor did anyone else in the packed Parish.
And visually Monster Truck do a show, they fling themselves around the stage, Jer rushes to the stage edge, while Jon doesn’t need to do much, he’s such a dominanting figure, but even he throws shapes.
Look people, if you’re a fan of good time classic rock go see Monster Truck if you get the chance.
Fowler’s latest release is a lovely thing, a rather beautiful thing with voice and piano. It’s a sparse piano. At first There are other sounds there but they feature as washes as the track builds – first some beats then more layers of synth. And as the track builds Fowler’s voice gets stronger, this is just right. That build is a fabulous thing, especially bearing in mind that this song is almost 5 minutes long.
I can imagine that there may be some people who say ‘almost 5 minutes, isn’t that a bit long, isn’t there a risk that this song could get repetitive?’. The simple answer is no this song deserves that length, it isn’t repetitive, it changes. There are more sounds then less sounds, changes in mood and feel. The music as well as the words tell the story.
And that voice is up front, and he has a lovely voice, a voice that simply sings the words without any vocal gymnastics, but is full of feel. And the words are great, really great.
I’ve said this before, and will no doubt say it again, but there are times when you just need a beautiful song with great words, a ‘simple’ arrangement and sang in a wonderful way. This track delivers that.
The info
Fowler is an up and coming singer/songwriter, with a raw, natural tone to his music. He currently studies at Leeds College of music on the songwriting course and has had songs broadcast on the radio through BBC Introducing. His debut album ‘Crossroads’ is available to stream and download on all platforms
with support from Mollie Coddled – Hailing from the North, Mollie Coddled is a solo lofi/ dream pop guitarist and singer from York. Being heavily influenced by the bedroom pop scene, Mollie records and produces all of her songs in her bedroom, making her music feel more intimate.
I always feel a certain amount – OK so I admit it, a huge amount – of excited anticipation every time I go to a Purple Thread gig but as this night was a single launch gig – of ‘Back To NYC’ (see our review) – my level of excitement was at fever pitch. This was helped by the fact that one of the support bands was Allora, a band I have really liked since the first time I saw them play at Wharf Chambers back in November last year.
Allora
Allora always seem to make me write my notes in a particular way (a particularly strange way, I hear you say) as I watch and see them play. So this is what I actually wrote
“Oh Allora every time I see you I vow not to gush in an uncontrollable way but to write some sort of rational music review (whatever that might be) but as this band starts to play I lose all rational thought, all of that goes out the window, and I just get drawn into what the band do.
It’s those voices, the way they intertwine and harmonise, it’s the way their music is at the same time simple and very complex, it’s the hints of mix of influences.
For a short time I managed to wrench myself out of the music and into ‘music reviewer mode’, so my review at least has semblance of being a normal music review. What I noticed, and I mean really noticed, this time is that their music is complex – it relies on the weaving of the guitars and voices – the voices are not only words but part of the music.
And I know that I’m not supposed to go on about them being a ‘girl band’ and I’m not going to except for one thing. I don’t think a band with male singers could make music like they do. It’s the vocals I really love about Allora. I mean I’m sure that the band write to their strengths – their voices being one of those – but there’s something magical about the way those voices combine. There is a point in one of their songs where the vocals send shivers up and down my spine.”
AlloraAlloraAlloraAlloraAlloraAlloraAllora
It’s at this point that my notes trail off into something that I’m sure meant something when I wrote them but reading them as I write this, I can’t for the life of me work out what they mean. The words fantastic, brilliant and beautiful seem to form a theme.
I realise that this tells you what I think about the band but not what they sound like, and if you’ve not seem them just knowing I think they’re wonderful isn’t going to make you go and see them. I said in a previous review that they do ‘slightly garage loose psychy alternative rock that has elements of soul and Laurel Canyon singer/songwriter in there’. I’m sticking with that.
Musing on the band’s set after they had finished – I always need to ‘take a moment’ after seeing Allora, I had some final thoughts. The main one, and the one I’m going to tell you, is that they seem to get better and better every time I see them. If you still haven’t seen Allora, go see them, they’re incredible and their music is beautiful.
Youth Sector
Next up were Brighton based Youth Sector. They describe themselves on their Facebook Page as being ‘art-rock’ . Now art-rock can be a variety of things (and as I spent quite a lot of my youth listening to music that could be described as art-rock I know this from experience) so let’s say what this means for Youth Sector. My first thought was that they sounded somewhat Devo like – it’s in those strident bsic keyboards and it’s all jerky. But there’s also sometime of a alt-rock/punky thing going on. My second thought was that there is, in places, something of a Cardiacs sound (being a Cardiacs fan, or Pondie as we are known, I notice their influence in all sorts of places), and also something of an early XTC thing going on. I’m sorry I’m jaded I admit, my head is so full of music that I just can’t help doing this.
What I can say is that once I’d got over the ‘this sounds like’ bit. I began to rather like what they do. It’s real throw yourself around the room stuff, those jerky rhythms are way infectious. And they put on a real performance – I was especially drawn to the bass player who seemed to be really throwing some ‘art-rock shapes’. The vocals and the playing were great.
What I’m going to admit is that I was left feeling that I really need to see them play again to ‘really get them’. The same can’t be said of the majority of the crowd who seemed to be really into them.
Before I go on, don’t expect anything objective in my review of Purple Thread, I am a fan. I’m not ashamed to admit this, it’s allowed, music writers can be fans of the bands they write about.
Purple Thread
Purple Thread took a while to come on, they waited until most of ‘New York, New York’ was over before finally taking to the stage – see what they were doing there? And as seems to be the usual case now they opened with ‘Something Good’. For people seeing Purple Thread for the first time this is a great intro to the what they do, it’s sleazy blues influenced rock, it’s a real ‘get loose, throw yourself around’ song. For me it’s also an indication of what the set is going to feel like. This time the band were ‘reasonably restrained’ (after the last time when I saw them when they were completely wild from the get go). This isn’t a criticism, however they are on stage the band are always great. The playing is fantastic, Liz’s vocals are oh so cool.
Next up was ‘Glitter’ a personal fav of a song, a yummy funky punky thing. And then ‘All About You’ a funky dancey thing. Now Purple Thread’s choice of covers – they always do a cover, or indeed covers, in their sets – seems to be getting more out there, tonight’s choice was ‘Juice’ (checking this, and I needed to check I couldn’t remember exactly what it was called, I can see why Liz said that she was a bit uncertain about the words to this, there are a hell of a lot of words). I had my doubts that this would work, but me of little faith, it did. They basically took it and turned it into a Purple Thread song, great stuff.
And then it was time for the single – ‘Back to NYC’ – which featured Bob Brazill – founder of Monomyth Records, the band’s label – on keyboards. Given that they have been featuring the song in their sets for some time now (and has become very much a set highlight for me), the addition of keys made it really stand out. They really bought something extra to what is already a great track. If you’ve not already listened to the single, go do that now, it’s a banger.
There is now a break in my notes – look I was really trying to take notes that night, usually I just have a blank page where they should be because I enjoy the band so much. There’s a break because I wanted to treat myself to at least some Purple Thread time unhampered by taking notes. I think this lasted for two songs.
The next song I actually have any notes on is the song that Liz always introduces as being one that she hopes people don’t find offensive. It’s called something like – or at least this line is in the chorus – ‘I Don’t Believe In Jesus, But I Wear Him On My T-shirt’. And while it may be cynical, if I get the words correctly (and I was really trying to get them this time around), it’s not offensive, at least not to me. It also has a great tune, and I love a song with a great tune.
They end with ‘Life’s A Drag’ and that’s it, I’ve had my fix of Purple Thread, until the next time, I hope it’s not too far away I get Purple Thread withdrawal symptoms.
Reading back what I’ve written it’s actually fairly restrained for a Purple Thread review for me. I’ve failed to sprinkle it with any four lettered words, it’s fairly ungushy, it’s actually a straightforward review. This won’t happen again, normal service will be resumed.
People are always asking, ‘why do you like Purple Thread so much Frank?’ because they are one of the bands I’m always going on about. There’s a pretty simple answer to this. They write great songs, the band are fab musicians and they are one of the best live bands I’ve seen in a long time. Their songs are go ape-shit crazy in the right place at the right time, and you can sit and listen to them as great songs in the comfort of your own room, a pretty magical thing to do. Go see Purple Thread do their punky funky blues thing, that’s an order.
This is a brutal thing, a brutal fucking thing. A brilliantly brutal thing. The guitars on it are like hammers in your head. It beats and beats and beats at your head until you are gloriously wonderfully spent. I’d hate to think what it’d do to you if it was longer than the 2 ½ minutes it lasts.
But there’s more to this than that. This riff heavy, bass heavy track is sprinkled with the fairy dust of psychedelic sound – wonderful harmony vocals and, somewhere in there, a tune. But these just add to the power of the track.
It’s oppressive and introverted in feel musically which reflects the subject of the song. And the words, as you listen again and again start to come through, and they are so good, well worth the time spent getting them. You can feel the fear. And that fear is scary, incredibly scary. It’s almost a relief when it ends, except that you immediately want to feel that power, that feeling, again.
Brooders’ recent releases have been so good, but this song takes a step up. It is fucking incredible. Go experience it now.
‘Caged’ is released with support from HELP MUSICIANS UK as part of their Do It Differently fund. You can find out more about them on their socials:
Personified in the lyric of the song (“what feeds us kills us”) Adam Bairstow speaks honestly and from the heart about the song: “It’s something real, it’s something harsh and it’s a bleak outlook on reality. It’s a song that’s wrapped in self-doubt and a fear of what awaits outside the walls of security and stability.”
Adam talks further about the lifestyle of routine and how damaging it was for him on a personal level: “I worked in awful bar jobs for years to fund the music aspirations that I lived and breathed for. I figured after a while it was going to be the job or the music that had to go. It was the job that got put on the chopping block. Stepping out of the realms of a comfortable and stable income, and into a terrifying new world of uncertainty gave a perspective like no other. It was truly liberating to discover that outside of a mundane life of pouring pints was a whole world of possibilities that otherwise would have been locked off by that life of routine. I learned to break the bonds of normality and step into something bigger than myself; and discovered it’s worth the risk while you still can.”
The band recently announced that their self-curated one-day festival RIFFFEST #2 will take place at LEEDS BELGRAVE MUSIC HALL on SATURDAY 25 JANUARY 2020 featuring an incredible line-up of CROWS, STRANGE BONES, BROODERS, CALVA LOUISE, DEAD NAKED HIPPIES, DENSE and 99% COBRA.
This track is one that Purple Thread have been including in their sets for a while now, and it’s become something of a live fav for me. I’m fairly sure – may I struck down with a thunderbolt if I’m wrong – that the band included it in their stripped back acoustic set at Shuffle Shuttle.
Live it’s a raucous thing, but would this be the case with this the single. Well yep, it is raucous. But it’s also rather cleverly put together. It sounds like two parts Patti Smith and one part Blondie, with odd hints of The Ramones and The New York Dolls, and a hint of disco right at the start (prizes will be available for anyone who cam identify where that sound comes from, not real prizes you understand, just the self-satisfaction of knowing it OK). It does that NY Punk/No Wave thing. You get what the band are doing here, don’t you?. While this sounds like I’m saying it sounds exactly like the bands I mentioned, it doesn’t, it still sounds like Purple Thread, it has their sound. It has that sudden Purple Thread guitar freakout, and that Liz ‘range of vocal styles’ thing.
So enough of the overly analytical music reviewer thing, I hear you say, tell me what this thing feels like and what it does to you. Well right from the start it makes you feel good, way fucking good people, and it makes you feel like throwing yourself around the room, violently throwing yourself around the room with scant regard for the safety of limbs and any cat in range (My cat Maisie – aka Maisie the LSF cat, aka Priddy Cat – was rather startled by the rather out of control way I thrashed around the room to this).
Look I can be accused of being a fan of Purple Thread, that’s OK I am, and that it appears that I praise anything by them to high heaven but please believe me when I say this is absolutely fucking fantastic. There’s nothing I would change to make it better, it’s perfect as it is. You know what I’m going to say, don’t you? Get to it, turn it up loud, and get loose people.
Sunday gigs, what you need is something intimate, relaxing and ideally something rather beautiful to take you into the next week. This lovely gem of a gig, organised by Leeds duo Amaku Miru, had that and a lot more.
Scotton Drive
First up was Scotton Drive, the musical moniker of UK sound artist David Littler. He was joined on stage by Astrid Walker – providing vocals, playing guitar on one song and one of those strange breath controlled keyboard things on another – and David Walker playing guitar and then keyboards on one song.
From their opening song Scotton Drive impressed hugely. It was trip-hoppy beats with a jazzy guitar. But it was the vocals of Astrid that were the stand-out thing for me. She has this beautiful pure voice. It would be easy to reach for a Portishead comparison, way too easy and not strictly correct. I was reminded of early Everything But The Girl, it’s that voice and the guitar.
This was so good that that I thought it just couldn’t get better, but it did. Their second song had a spacey beat, an Irish folk song influenced vocal line and a kind of gentle mutant acoustic blues guitar. The beauty of this song just left me reeling, it was compelling, totally compelling, and mesmirising.
So good were Scotton Drive that I had no choice but to just watch and listen, I failed completely to take notes so taken as I was to a lovely place by their music. It is only with their final song, where Astrid took up an electric guitar and it was something a little more strident that I actually managed to write a short note of this.
Scotton DriveScotton DriveScotton Drive
What they do is difficult to define. It takes elements from all over the place, different sounds and makes something unique. The songs are all different but somehow not, there is a feeling that threads through them that binds them together. Yes, there is the sparse beats and sounds that David makes that gives the songs a sense of the same feel. There is a beauty in the music that shines through, a gentle beauty. And there is something organic and graceful in it.
This wasn’t what I was expecting when I read that ‘Scotton Drive is the musical moniker of UK sound artist David Littler’, I was expecting something more experimental, a little more out there. But the unexpected can be beautiful sometimes. Do try and see Scotton Drive.
Mayshe-Mayshe
Mayshe-Mayshe is somebody I’ve been wanting to see live for ages. While I had little idea of what she does, people kept saying ‘you must go see her Frank, she’s great’. They weren’t wrong.
So she uses loops, but she uses loops in a way that is almost impossible to work out quite how those layers of sound are made – made using voice and synth. The music is dreamy electro pop in form but it isn’t lyrically – lyrically it’s deceptively simple and deeply personal. The words are almost more poetry than song lyrics. And she sings in this way that is, as I noted, ‘something of a unique vocal style’. It’s difficult to describe but it’s gently compelling and draws you in.
My friends had promised me a hairdryer, they were somewhat mysterious about this, but it is in her second song that she uses a hairdryer to add a sound to the layers of sounds she was building. This may sound like a novelty but it wasn’t, in context, the use of that sound made complete sense musically.
At some point during her set I wrote ‘There is a vulnerability to her music, a vulnerability in her voice and words. But somehow, and strangely, this is strong, she comes across as strong. It seems she exposes herself when she plays and sings, and this is strong’. This is a little prentenious but I stand by what I wrote. The vulnerability in what she does is the thing that is so compelling and draws you in.
Amaku Miru
A while back I reviewed a release from Amaku Miru (‘Read All About It’/’An Introvert’s Guide to Partying’) and loved it, so I was really looking forward to seeing them (Emma and Andy, who by the way are really nice. Thank you for inviting me to the gig you two) play live. The problem is that beyond the single I have no idea of what they do. Thankfully what they do is much like the single so all is good.
Look I’m sorry but Amaku Miru are one of those undefinable bands – there are elements of all sorts of things in each song. But those elements are mixed into something great. The thing is that this leads to a point where you think you finally have a handle on it, but then that’s ripped away by the noisest guitar. I’m guessing you might want some sort of list of things – so here goes – folk, alt-rock, singer/songwriter stuff, oh this could just go on and on. They define themselves as lo-fi but this doesn’t indicate the spohisication with which they use all those different sounds and styles to make their music.
Thankfully for a Amaku Miru live newbie like me they open with ‘Read All About It’ which helpfully roots me in their set. And it’s just a good live as the recorded single. Emma’s voice charms. Oh and they use a pre-programmed backing track for the extra sounds but this doesn’t make their set sound non-organic, the fact that they both play guitar makes it just an element of their sound.
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While, as their set went out, I began to think I had got them, there were moments where this all fell apart. There was one song that had of all things a slightly latin-ish thing going on that made me realise I hadn’t got them at all.
So yes, the music is important but Amaku Miru write songs with words that are important – they write songs about social media, anxiety in social situations, politics and the media. The problem with seeing a band live for the first time is that you want to hear the words but your attention, well at least for me, is taken by the music. I want to see them live again so I get the words more.
They finish their set with An Introvert’s Guide to Partying’ and somehow it is better than the recorded version, it really benefits from a live performance.
This is band you should see if you like something a little different, that isn’t mainstream.
Ennio the Little Brother.
And so to our final act, Ennio the Little Brother. He uses guitar, loops and pre-progammed sounds to accompany his words. The words are so important. Indeed at times I mused as whether this was ‘songs’ or kind of spoken word poetry over music. I guess you could call it gentle hip-hop if you really had to.
But ultimately, I decided as the stream of wonderful words absorbed me, trying to define it is rather pointless. The issue is whether I liked it, and I did. There were times where I was overwhelmed by the words, trying to hear and understand them, but these were few and far between.
Two things stood out for me. A song called, I assumed at the time, ‘Anthony’ (I may or may not be right about this) which was gently moving and had the most wonderful coolest guitar. And a piece about a street in North Wales which described the most wonderful pictures in words.
Whether this is for you depends on whether you go for what I’ve described. But what I will say is that this isn’t the sort of thing I usually like at all. I wasn’t sure at the start of his set by the end I was vowing to myself to see him again.
The info
