Thoughts on music

New Music 2012 - Part 9 - The Graphite Set

2012-01-30T23:17:00.001Z

It is something of a return to Thoughts on Festivals 2011 in but for a very good reason I believe. This band, a rarity in featuring a trumpet player as a key member, is here seen playing an opening set on the Tipi Stage at End Of The Road 2011 (EOTR 2011).

They were, back then, known as 'Lily and The Hackabouts' and they were very good. A recent name change has seen them become 'The Graphite Set'. The songs are dependably good - the most recent ones particularly so. Check out Genova, Chelsea Boots and (most recently revealed) Golden Ship.
Influences? Indie and arty, yes, but never to excess. I could write a list, but not one that would be a criticism of what they do, therefore I won't waste my time doing it.
And they are very good live too, they gig regularly in North London in particular, but deserve a wider audience.
The Graphite Set is a band to watch in 2012 - and a priority to go-see live.

New Music 2012 - Part 8 - Anxiety, Ladyhawke

2012-01-23T22:55:00.000Z

Well I just had to mention 'Anxiety', the very welcome follow up to her self-titled début album from 2008; not simply because I heard the first stuff from it today and I think it sounds good but also because I saw her live at Latitude 2009 and that was very good indeed.

It is currently slated for release in the UK (Island/Universal) on March 19, 2012.
More to follow including, with any luck, some UK festival dates.

I could, and intend to, add quite a few more acts that have that same potential and given enough on one festival bill I could still be tempted to venture out to another. Anxiety is also very much a part of life for festival organizers just at the moment:

There is no shortage of worthy acts and artists seeking bookings, far from it indeed but that is a double-edged sword. Selling festival tickets in 2012 is going to be tough, there is no doubt about that and the 2012 Olympiad is not going to help as much as it hinders. Booking the acts of the moment will be more important than ever but that will only come at a cost - one many festivals can barely afford, let alone risk and that they are extremely unlikely to be able to pass this on in ticket prices, 'up-front costs', or indeed 'on-site costs' such as catering (the latter would surely come back to haunt them in 2013).
If, and it is a big if, the general economic situation were to show real signs of even a modest revival, particularly towards the end of 2012, then 2013 (including the return of Glastonbury that is absent in 2012) might actually turn out to be tougher still.

The focus will be firmly on festivals that provide quality in all aspects; great entertainment, good facilities, and also value for money. There may be some disappointments, some festivals that vanish, but I think that the sector will rebound from this and quite possibly in ruder health.

New Music 2012 - Part 7 - No Direction Home

2012-01-22T17:02:00.001Z

No, nothing to do with One Direction at all, this is a new festival. No Direction Home comes with an impeccable pedigree and the tickets are available now. If you have ever wondered about End Of The Road Festival but thought that North Dorset is just a little too far to travel then this is for you. Same team, same ethos (and even the Somerset Cider Bus for us wurzels gone Midland!). The location is Welbeck Abbey and the dates 8-10 June 2012.

End Of The Road 2012 returns, of course, to Larmer Tree Gardens in North Dorset, for a seventh gig on 31 August - 2 September 2012 but it would be unwise to wait until June to buy your ticket for this.
Some acts have been confirmed for both the above-mentioned (see links for details) and I'm sure to comment before long.

New Music 2012 - Things to look forward to...

2012-01-19T19:58:00.004Z

I've got a list, several in fact. I have always had lists in so far as I can remember. The question that matters is not so much the items on them but their very existence and what I choose to do with them.
I have been inspired to mention this facet of my life by the following blog, which I highly recommend:
listologies.blogspot.com
It is, almost by definition, in a list all of its own. For some reason I currently can't add to my side-bar 'link list' but these things happen. I can, if you are reading this, still update and add posts. I'm wondering if I've broken it in some way or that , by accumulation it has simply become a list-too-long (it saves the no-longer displayed entries). If it disappears for a short while then fear not. I'm not interested in its long-invisible content and I am pretty sure that you are not either as it is supposed to be my recent listening list. To that general end, and if it is not otherwise working normally by some currently unspecified time tomorrow, I shall abolish the existing one and attempt to start a new one.
*** the listening list in the side-bar is operational again, starting from scratch with an artist from Bristol who has just this afternoon come to my attention - Rebecca Cant.***

The death of music (is actually a myth).

2012-01-17T22:31:00.001Z

The good news is that after the pre-Christmas hiatus, which seems to have become less prominent and lengthy over the five or six years that I have been taking more careful note, is ending and with a vengeance. I could suggest several reasons, all rather more significant than my paying attention, for this. It led me to look at some of the posts that I had written over the last two years in particular and, to be honest, I'm quite pleased with what I chose to include and why. One strange thing that has occurred to me is that sometimes a perceived lack of interest, at others quite the opposite, makes me want to write something and I'm not really sure why that might be.
[Eeek!!!... this is Radio 1 at 19:54 on a Monday evening and this is new trip-hop with a dub-step edge - but it is still all ship-shape and Bristol fashion. I don't recognize it - and it might very well actually be Scandinavian, which says a lot about several trends.]
On the other hand never bet against Canada. Kathleen Edwards' - Voyageur LP is released in the UK this coming Monday - I'm now (21:24) listening to it, and quite legally so, while writing this.
Therein lies a conundrum - some would say that the last decade has seen the death of new music - what with the decline and therefore ever more risk-averse major labels - but the majors have vested interests and therefore don't want [the music-buying public] to know the whole extent and context of the story.
I'm not joking here and this is just a start: If I wanted to find three or four hours of worthwhile new music (new to me or just plain new) to listen to each week - totally legally and free - that would actually be no problem at all, even given my sundry likes and dislikes, and all that is without really trying. I probably already do so and piracy is not involved in any way. I have no problem with paying the going rate for new music and if that is primarily channelled via independent artists, labels and music stores then that is absolutely fine by me and a goal that is becoming ever more realistic.
Then again there is the balance to be found with time listening to my existing collection and not least because many of these serve as reference and comparisons to all the new things.

Just the silly season... but more seriously.

2012-01-11T23:24:00.000Z

I didn't intend to add anything until Friday but something, and in this case people who came here searching, was to pique my curiosity. I've been looking through the photos that I have taken at festivals over the last few years - and I'm still open to suggestions for ones I need to go to, preferably in late June, July or early August 2012.
I'm going to state some of my recent opinions here but please feel free to disagree. Weather aside (of course it didn't help but it is beyond anyone's control) I was faintly underwhelmed by Latitude 2011. I have always gone there for the music and, in 2011, I think that the emphasis had moved too far away from that. There was much good music, no doubt about it, but not the same attention to detail. The Lake Stage is a good indicator: in 2008 it was amazing, in 2009 mostly unused, while in 2010 it was stunning again but in 2011 little thought had apparently been put in to it. Some of the acts were good, if you could find out when they were on.
The other music stages were pretty good but, as the competition in both UK and abroad improves, things are going to get tougher still. Micheal Eavis has hinted at this and, surely, he is one with the least to worry about. I can see his line of thought however; Coachella 2012 is to be a 2 x three-day festival over successive weekends at the same location and with the same acts at both. Imagine this: you go to both and, unless you chose to do so, see nothing twice. And that is not to mention that the Coachella 2012 line-up is to die for!
UK festivals might have to learn from this and fast - while there is nothing that we can do about the weather (and we are not alone as the extreme horror of Pukklepop 2011 and Indiana State Fair 2011, both caused by extreme weather that could not have reasonably been predicted showed) except to take better steps to mitigate at least the reasonably foreseeable downsides of it withoute stifling the whole scene. Everything is dangerous - its just a matter of degree.

I'm not wishing to sound too serious here, indeed I think that being over serious (about the content) is actually part of the problem.
This was the Obelisk Stage at Latitude 2007 and not half as silly as the performance became... unforgettable for all the right reasons, just as festivals should be.

CSS Roxxx!

Pulling the trick off, year after year, has often eluded both bands and festivals.

New Music 2012 - Part 6 - totally acoustic.

2012-01-09T20:49:00.000Z

This is another post that starts with an act that I have seen live at a festival, in this case EOTR 2010. This is Jonny Kearney and Lucy Farrell and I doubt that you can imagine any much more rustic than this at a festival. This one wasn't muddy at all but when travelling light it is best to fear the worst and go accordingly booted. It certainly isn't some clever get-up and the music will, if I have failed to so, soon dispel that impression.

Kite - Jonny Kearney and Lucy Farrell is already released (Rabble Rouser Records, 2011).

I'd love to think that they will be back at the nicest of festivals in 2012, for they are the nicest of people. If I had to put a bet on it (which I'm in no position to do) it would be either of 'No Direction Home 1' (8-10 June 2012) or 'End Of The Road 7' (31 August - 2 September 2012). Be that as it may you need to check out the artists and acts already announced...

The next acoustic artist you might already have heard of, but probably not for the reasons that she took a year off for music before going to university - and that was over three years ago. Then things happened and she has only just this week started to do what she intended to start then, which is to record her first album [no release date, no title].
A whole lot of writing, for that is what she originally intended to do and also did, will stand her in good stead and I think it not unlikely that she will appear at one or the other of the above-mentioned festivals.

An ingenué she certainly is not, neither is she an attention seeker, and so while it was not her intention when she moved to London to then spend two years recording and touring with Bombay Bicycle Club, it is quite some achievement. Her solo vision is however undiminished - probably much enhanced by the experiences - and it remains her original aim. Various comparisons have been drawn but in most ways they are unwarranted as neither she, nor indeed they, seem willing to become enemies over any perceived musical territory. There is quite enough space for them all. If Lucy Rose is at a venue near you in 2012 then that is somewhere you need to be.

New Music 2012 - Part 5 - Something, Chairlift

2012-01-08T14:44:00.000Z

It seems a long time since the début album - Does You Inspire You? - was released and then I had the pleasure of seeing the band perform live. It has in fact been a long time; the album was released in 2008 and I saw them at Latitude 2009 but it is still an album that I listen to quite often. I had become aware that there had been certain 'band issues' and just before Christmas I was wondering when and indeed if we would hear more but never got around to searching, so thanks to Addi and the blog Listologies for letting me know.

The result, from a reconfigured band and a reinvented Caroline Polachek on vocal duties, is 'Something'. The US release date appears to be January 24 (Columbia) but from what I have read the UK release will be through Young Turks on January 23.
Any which way I'm looking forward to this release. I liked much of the electronic-based indie music that was coming out of Brooklyn in the period 2008-10 but, at least to me, it doesn't seem to have been as prominent in the last eighteen months or so. Perhaps I have just been distracted by other things, but that could be about to change.
You can stream the track 'Sidewalk Safari' here.

New Music 2012 - Part 4 - Europe, Cyrk and things

2012-01-07T21:45:00.000Z

Two more sophopmore albums, as it happens I said it might be like this, both of which are by acts/artists I have also already seen live and this makes me more confident about saying that they are unlikely to disappoint.

The first is London-based Allo Darlin', although singer and ukelele player Elizabeth Morris is Australian. Here they are (she has a band too) playing the 'Big Top Tent' at EOTR 2011 and I don't think I've used any pictures from this set before.

At the start of the gig there were a couple of hundred in the audience, by mid-way it was something else and prompted the comment that, "If we look nervous it's because we are. We've never played to an audience this size." It didn't show but before the end and the result of a much-passed bit of paper she read out a request from Joe to his girlfriend, both somewhere mid-way back in the crowd as it now was, and she said "yes".
The new album, 'Europe' will be out soon, released by Slumberland Recordings and distributed by FORTUNA pop in, erm, Europe. You could call the music twee-core, but only at your peril. Who cares what it is "labelled" anyway?

In some ways you could say much the same sorts of things about this artist too. One who as it happens performed on the Garden Stage at EOTR 2010 in support of her début album 'Me Oh My', so here she is doing exactly that.

The new album, released on January 17 in the US by The Control Group, is Cyrk.

Note added January 10, 2012:

If you want to hear the above-mentioned 'Cyrk' on free, legal stream try this:

http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/av/2012/01/video-premiere-cate-le-bon---fold-the-cloth-2.html

Discuss: "Warpaint is an Electrelane rip-off."

2012-01-05T20:43:00.001Z

I have just remembered why I still love blogging so much. The title of this post is the enquiry, to a 'well known search engine', that led an unsuspecting reader to 'Thoughts on Music' barely ten minutes ago.
Good on you, anonymous reader, and I can see your line of thought. I have, rather luckily, mentioned both the aforementioned acts several times. We could all use much more of this kind of provocation and then some reasoned comments: be they in agreement with the motion of the debate or not does not matter one bit. Neither is it the time for me to lay down my thoughts on the matter - I have never considered it in these terms until just now.
Over to you, dear readers! You start and I'll reply.

New Music 2012 - welcome to the New Year...

2012-01-02T23:22:00.000Z

Just a few things to think about...

New music will come from somewhere. Americana will, almost certainly, not let you down. This, Aunt Martha - Norway, ME is well worth a listen.
Furthermore, if you like Dylan LeBlanc's first album Pauper's Field (2010) his soon to be released sophomore album might actually be even better and there is no more apposite time than early January to dig out some new pictures of live music in the English summer.

Dylan LeBlanc - Garden Stage, End Of The Road 2010.

New Music 2012 - Part 3 - a.k.a. Electra Heart

2011-12-30T18:35:00.001Z

I seem to have started this thread on the subject of sophomore albums and I'm going to continue with another few before, probably, heading off in the direction of new acts and artists.
This particular story started back at Latitude 2009 when I saw one of the first festival performances by the band, about which I was reminded while driving home last week and ended up listening to the first album 'The Family Jewels', which was to come later. She had arrived at the event in the nick-of-time and had no time to prepare, which was perhaps telling. Just occasionally there are acts or artists that, whatever the circumstances, have quality written through them like a stick of seaside rock. I've had the great fortune to see several over the last few years; it's not something that you realise later, you know it in an instant. Marina Diamandis is one such.

The album 'Electra Heart' is another slightly dangerous game as it introduces a new character that, rather than her alter-ego, is her antithesis. It will still be the strong pop that we know - as 'Radioactive' and newer still while not a finished "single", 'Fear & Loathing' demonstrates but just don't expect unchallenging lyrics - as if you would had you ever heard her appearances on the BBC Radio 1 'Review Show'.
Now listen carefully to, and in particular 'Hollywood' from, the first album again and take an educated guess at the world that Electra inhabits.

New Music 2012 - Part 2 - First Aid Kit - Lions Roar

2011-12-29T15:26:00.001Z

This, as it happens, is another sophomore LP and the follow-up to 'The Big, Black and The Blue' (2010) and the EP 'Drunken Trees' (2009). That is to mention, furthermore, that 2012 is most certainly not the year in which to underestimate music from Scandinavia, always a dangerous game as it comes in all moods and not least this from the Söderberg sisters - First Aid Kit.

Woolly jumpers and fingerless gloves notwithstanding they do barbed lyrics far better than many much older but there is competition. New album 'The Lion's Roar' is released early in 2012 by Wichita Recordings and First Aid Kit is confirmed as appearing at End Of The Road 2012. Tickets available now - see you there!

New Music 2012 - Part 1 - Phantom Limb - The Pines

2011-12-29T12:04:00.000Z

Where better to start than with this? 'The Pines', released in the UK on February 13, is the second studio album by Bristol-based Phantom Limb and the follow up to their 2008 eponymous début. The more recently released 'Live In Bristol' only me makes me want to hear this LP more, and then live once again.

It has long escaped me why Phantom Limb is not already better known. This, I would like to think, is the album that will finally make amends for there is nothing even two-dimensional about the whole deal: A remarkable vocalist for sure, but most importantly a band that is supremely able to cope with the considerable demands she places on them. Better still is the song-writing and the arrangement is top-drawer.

Driving Home from Christmas...

2011-12-27T21:32:00.001Z

I did this early this afternoon and it was slightly mad. All the vehicles with 'Baby on board' stickers were weaving between each other and flashing past like they couldn't care less. I decided that ten minutes late (for nothing in particular) is better than a life lost and, in the slow-lane between the few trucks on the motorway, we almost kept pace with the train on the line alongside that was carrying about 650 tons of timber!
I wonder what everyone else was listening to?
I was in a particularly electro-mood so when the mad ones did their thing I trundled along at about 65 mph listening, and perhaps even singing along (very badly), to an artist who might just be one to watch in 2012. It is one of my guilty pleasures.

Latitude Festival 2012

2011-12-20T20:33:00.001Z

I have been to five Latitude Festivals, 2007 - 2011, and loved them all in various ways.

This time you really need to persuade me that I should do so again in 2012. I feel a change is as good as a rest and, to this effect, I have several alternatives in mind. I could still be persuaded but I'm certainly not buying a pre-sale ticket this year.

My Latest 'Thought on Music'

2011-12-14T20:37:00.001Z

Is a stunningly simple revelation:
Much of the best music is that which I failed to find, appreciate or write about last year. My year-end report says that I must try harder.
If you want an alt-Christmas song then Pulled Apart By Reindeer might just be for you and the guilty party is London-based Kimmy Reader, who is one to watch in 2012.
If you want a cover song then here is her take on Temper Trap's 'Sweet Disposition'; covered acoustic and unplugged on a late night Metropolitan Line tube train. Why not take live music to unsuspecting people and record their reaction?

2011 in Music - EPs and mini albums

2011-12-08T19:18:00.001Z

Several people have mentioned that, along with vinyl, the EP is enjoying a welcome and long overdue return in all formats and for reasons that are entirely practical. It provides a way for artists to release a connected piece of work whether that be on vinyl or download, rather than just odd tracks, and for whatever reason. It can be a new artist with only a small collecton of completed material or an established artist with a collection of material that in some way does not sit well with the bulk of their output. Whatever the reasons for this revival are it has been a good year and I'm going to start on a year-high. When I discovered this my 2011 in music changed. Very few people can do that.

The next one is equally different and difficult to classify but I'm going to continue with this, which comes from an artist that few had heard of at the start of 2011 and myself included. It is difficult to describe its genre - tenebrous, intellectual, indie-dance does it for me.

Its creator is Estonian writer-singer-DJ Maria Minerva. Were it not for this EP (vinyl & download) and my self-imposed rules concerning these lists (see previous post) her 2011 album 'Caberet Cixous' might just have been included. I chose this specifically because of its tight and distinct focus.

There will only be three items in this post - the connecting theme being they are neither depressing nor euphoric - and that is what sets them aside.

What they mean to me, and what I feel about these songs, is like looking in a quite special mirror: one that changes like the sky and can reflect things that otherwise I cannot see.

2011 in Music - Albums - Part 2

2011-12-06T20:27:00.001Z

I was planning to do the '2011 in EPs and mini-albums' section before this but that has (once again) proved more complicated. This, which is not a second-string selection of albums, hasn't been much better and actually more difficult that the first because I have, in order to limit to a dozen, been forced to be even more ruthless.
Here it is, again in alphabetical order by act/artist and (for now) without further comment:

Alessi's Ark - Time Travel
Black Keys - El Camino
Demdike Stare - Tryptych
Eilen Jewell - Queen of the Minor Key
Gill Sandell - Tarry Awhile
Jackie Oates - Saturnine
Joy Formidable - The Big Roar
Kitty, Daisy and Lewis - Smoking In Heaven
Laura Marling - A Creature I Don't Know
Low Anthem - Smart Flesh
Naked and Famous - Passive Me, Aggressive You
Veronica Falls - Veronica Falls

I might attempt the aforementioned '2011 in EPs and mini-albums' this evening. I have also introduced a new rule for these lists - although I don't think that even retrospectively I have actually violated it - and that is the the same act/artist combination cannot appear in more than one list in a given year with the exception being the 'Live List', if I ever get around to posting one.

2011 in Music - Albums - Part 1

2011-11-30T19:43:00.001Z

No real change in presentation here from last year; two lists of albums strictly in order alphabetical by artist. The difference is that this year I'm going to publish the lists first and, only when you have had a week to consider (and comment - see below), shall I add the links and my thoughts on why they are included and, perhaps, others are not.
In no way is this intended to be a balanced list, far from it in fact: It is quite utterly biased to what has caught my attention in a lasting way in 2011.

Adele - 21
Amy LaVere - Stranger Me
Austra - Feel It Break
Bella Hardy - Songs Lost and Stolen
Emily Barker - Almanac
Esben and The Witch - Violet Cries
Jessica Lea Mayfield - Tell Me
Lanterns On The Lake - Gracious Tide, Take Me Home
Seapony - Go With Me
Thea Gilmore - John Wesley Harding
Widowspeak - Widowspeak
Yuck - Yuck

Please feel free to add comments, queries, suggestions or questions. It is what this is all about, whether negative, positive or simply mystified! All comments are moderated (by me alone, so you know that I read them) and while I prefer it that you can put your real identity to your piece, because you should believe in what you are saying and be prepared to stand up and be counted, I will sometimes sanction the publishing of "anonymous" comments. Comments that are defamatory, offensive or simply irrelevant in content or context will not be published regardless of source.
I'll attempt to answer valid questions and comments either in comments of my own in reply or in a more general 'round-up' post.

Acoustic+ - November acts 1,2 & 4

2011-11-22T22:38:00.000Z

This starts where the previous post left off. In some ways this is the less acoustic side of Acoustic+, but in several different ways that is rather telling.

The first to perform was Alex Veale who performed some tracks solo and some accompanied, but all acoustic.

His other musical outlet is an all-electric rock outfit... and this is in fact an acoustic cover of a Metallica song. That is no surprise really and certainly nothing new: Lucie Silvas covered 'Nothing Else Matters' as a piano ballad on her 2004 album Breathe In. Done well, and this was, it can work even if the die hard fans might say otherwise.

Next up was Bristol/Bath based four-piece Furlined. They were not entirely acoustic, as electric bass was involved. No matter though: so is one of the acoustic instruments much in vogue at the moment - 'cello played by Tegan Thomas.

All songs are by Neil Crossley, also lead vocals and acoustic guitar. Engaging lyrics, a band so good and this was interspersed with intelligent patter; sometimes poignant, sometimes truly comedic retrospective. I kid you not - this is what 1990's music could have been if it were done properly.

Of the four acts performing the only one that I had seen before was the last, and the youngest, Amplified Silence. To state the obvious, they are in the "+" category as they are not acoustic at all! I think I could have a good guess at some of their musical influences. I'm not going to do that - they don't need it. They perform as a five-piece outfit except for a couple of instrumental numbers...

...leaving their vocalist in the rôle of on-stage muse.

The Daturas - Acoustic+

2011-11-21T23:03:00.001Z

Frome's very own Acoustic+ is something of a regular on these pages now - and with good reason in a local scene that, as well as thriving, has many competitors. The most recent event was last Friday. Sometimes I cover the acts/artists in order of appearance but this time that has gone out of the window. The Daturas were actually the third of four acts to play and, although they were very good, I've chosen to mention them first for this reason alone...

Earlier this year, when commenting on unusual instruments that had appeared at Acoustic+, I mentioned that it would make my day if pedal steel guitar were one of them. I first became acquainted with it in the live environment at festivals a couple of years ago and thought it as remarkable as the sound is distinctive. The stranger thing is that, despite the above comment, it is a sound that with judicious consideration can fit well with many genres of music (in that sense perhaps like saxophone) in which it is non-traditional. To be honest I'd have liked the sound of The Daturas even without said instrument - they have presence, something that actually applied in its own way to all four acts - and songs to pull it off.

Not to mention a distinctive and charismatic front man.

The next thing, you might reasonably wonder, is how the other three acts measured up in comparison.

Dead season? Songs don't write themselves...

2011-11-21T21:10:00.001Z

Some things have disinclined me to blog for a couple of weeks. They are mainly music related but that is not a reflection on the music. It is indeed rather the opposite and while the major train (I shall comment specifically on EMI later) heads for the comforting buffers of compilations and bankers in an attempt to shunt sales into a slightly better place in the run up to Christmas, sometimes saying nothing is a sign in itself.
We know that the current economic climate, even if steps are being taken to address that, is entirely poisonous. Things are tough, no doubt about that in almost all sectors, but the UK music industry is still a net exporter - and this applies to the independent sector almost exclusively. There is much said about the decline of manufacturing - don't forget that music is in fact a manufacturing industry right from point of song writing...
When the up-turn comes, as sooner or later it will, there will be serious opportunities both creative and commercial and UK music will be in a good place to take advantage.

Live and Local - Archangel

2011-11-05T17:52:00.000Z

You could spend Saturday afternoon driving to some impossibly distant 'branded retail experience'. On the other hand you could take advantage of that which is local. Call me old-fashioned if you like but I rather prefer walking for ten minutes to get where I want to be. That applies to the shops. This is a bonus - it is much cheaper and more satisfying than retail therapy too.

Nicky Swann and Katie Marie @ Archangel, Frome - November 5, 2011.

Acoustic Moon 3 - Without words and in other tales

2011-11-01T23:36:00.002Z

I shall continue with the performances of last Thursday evening, and not before time, with a trio of artists whose principal weapon is acoustic guitar. If you think that might be a recipe for tedious similarity then think again.

The first of those to play was Chris Woods and while he was very talkative between tracks they are all entirely instrumental. I must admit that I'm pretty tolerant of instrumental music but even if that were not the case it would have pushed me to think that way and, apparently, most others thought the same. It did however make me think about the way he was playing, and how to take photos of it. I never did quite succeed in doing the latter. No excuses on my part --- it was astonishing just to watch and wonder. In retrospect it is amazes me that I took any pictures at all. I've seen more than my fair share of live acts this year and this was right up there with the most remarkable.

When it came to it Cole Stacey, who has recently been touring the UK sometimes with and sometimes without Chris Woods, was certainly in competitive mood. I should say that this was the closing date of that tour and a coup de grâce.
It was a contest of a kind...

Cole sings his own songs; he also picks judicious cover versions too. He then conjured Jennifer Clark, up from Devon, to sing on some songs and even got the audience singing too. There were only winners here.

This one was 'The Boxer'. There is however no animosity.

Together unplugged, at Acoustic Moon 3, with Chris Woods on banjo.

Top of the evening, and dealt a tough hand, was Mark Abis. Have no worries about this for he thrives on songs about that sort of thing... and a new album is on the way soon.

Halloween - Without Sinking

2011-10-30T21:50:00.001Z

It is not that I had forgotten about the night when music is more eclectic than on most others. I just needed to find something to suit and so from Iceland, as it is darker and more inexplicably musical than anywhere else I can think of, comes this...

Difficult, unapproachable, scary even... Isn't that what Halloween is about?

This is 'cello-based music intent on challenging even the warmest heart. Survive this without shivering and you are all set for whatever, indeed the worst, that the forthcoming winter might throw at us.
If you are still up for more then anything by Demdike Stare would be good - particularly 'Tryptych' and if you still can't face being the wrong side of dead (or bed) and trying to sleep here is a suggestion: 'Sadly The Future Is No Longer What It Was' and that is itself only one third of a trilogy...
After that you probably will believe absolutely anything. Real spooks love vinyl.

This spook forgot to mention that Leyland Kirby's 'Intrigue and Stuff - Vol 3 (of 4) is released on November 7.

Acoustic Moon 3 - Where were you when...?

2011-10-28T19:38:00.001Z

If you were bemoaning the vile weather, thinking about the logistics of Christmas and being autumnal in all the wrong ways, together with the fact that it was still only Thursday, then here are three words:

YOU . MISSED . OUT

If that is so then you have only yourself to blame. You could have been in a cosy village pub, with great food - from three-course feast to bar snacks - and drink at very reasonable prices, listening to some of the finest and most varied acoustic music that the UK has to offer. That is Acoustic Moon and the admission charge for that aspect is £5 on-the-door. Trading Standards Authority motto to the public is this: "If something seems too good to be true then it probably is."
It is indeed good advice but, then again, all rules need a few exceptions for validation and this is one of them. Yesterday's selection of music was nothing if not varied except in that it happened to include two very different artists playing one of the rarest of percussion instruments and one that is new in the 21st century...
One of the oldest tuned acoustic instruments of all is, in its various forms, dulcimer. It doesn't have to look or sound ancient and around here we know that. It has been hammered into us in the best way possible.

Opening the evening - Intricate.

Barbara J Hunt on guitar and lead vocals with Dizzie on a thoroughly modern hammered dulcimer and sometimes including theatrical interpretations. There are absolutely no warm-up acts here and very soon that 21st century creation - the hang. It combines mid-19th century physics of acoustics, courtesy of Helmholz, and late 20th century metallurgy in the form of ammonia-gas-nitriding in an instrument that both looks and sounds like it might have actually been around since forever. The first example did not however make a public performance until 2001 and they are all still made by a "cottage industry" in Switzerland.

To see one hang player in an evening is good fortune, to see two is a miracle.

The second hang player was Venus Bushfires and I do not actually have any pictures of that. It is for a reason. I was borrowed for another duty. I was watching, listening and recording but have no pictures of the set. She played solo, sometimes actually acapella, and showed a completely different aspect of hang playing. It sat in her lap rather than on a stand and was in support of a quite different style of music.

This is the one photo I did take, just after her set had finished.

It is rare that I don't write about an evening such as this in a single post, rarer still that I don't stick to the order in which the artists or acts appeared. In this case I have decided to do both - the three acoustic guitar artists are to follow.

More Thoughts on Americana

2011-10-26T19:46:00.003Z

We have been here before, readers new and old. Once I thought it was just a passing phase of mine but as 2009 has slowly moved on towards the end of 2011 I'm no longer so sure about that.
It is time to start thinking about those 'Best Of 2011' lists and don't get me wrong for I am - but there is also the fact that UK folk - new or traditional, strictly original or not, acoustic or not, is hardly a new beat on my drum and yet a huge feature of 2011. All thought of that is not going to trouble me tonight. Predictions for 2012 are interesting but they too will have to wait.

I write things with the hope that people might perhaps think to look beyond that music they already know and love and therefore discover something new to them. I don't care if you like it, that you are opinionated and disagree, unless you are offensive. I would far rather deal with that than battle apathy, particularly my own.
The first LP is something that should have been obvious to me for quite some while and that, until very recently, I did nothing about seeking.

This next album has a title that you might find almost strange but they chose it. It was mentioned, just in passing, by one of those whose likes in music are certainly not always the same as mine but whose opinions I respect.

It demonstrates exactly why I think I should do things this way. If you have an appreciation of the sheer variety of UK folk I now think it hard to see why you might not find this interesting. Neither of these albums are 2011 releases.

Acoustic+, Frome, October 14, 2011

2011-10-18T17:30:00.000Z

OK. I have finally got round to starting this and that, more often than not, is the hardest part. In fact I'm currently accumulating items and topics to write about much faster than I'm doing the writing. Perhaps now the days are shorter and colder I will make a big effort to catch up and to that end will start with some notes from the most recent Acoustic+, and apparently the 77th such, last Friday.
One interesting change from the last few that I have been to is it included only acts and artists that I had never seen before; all but the last being (almost) entirely acoustic.

The evening started with two shorter-than-usual sets of which the first was by Maisie Robinson solo. With an audience that I estimate was just the right side of one hundred it must have been pretty daunting.

The first song almost immediately put me in mind of Illinois singer-songwriter Jessica Lea Mayfield, with its careworn yet stoic theme and accompaniment to match, but that is no bad thing at all in my book. That is not to say that there was anything at all wrong with the other songs; rather that it is unusual that I find myself thinking something like that so quickly particularly because I don't want to pigeon-hole by using such comparisons - just go listen. As soon as you get the chance.

Next up was another short set by Josh & Ethan White. They are brothers but I'd like to know what they thought about some factions in both audience and management that decided on a vote to re-name them 'The White Brothers'. I'm not sure whether they were consulted so it is perhaps just as well that the vote, a TUC-style show of hands, was quite convincingly inconclusive giving them a mandate to call themselves whatever they want. Frome is a haven of grass-roots democracy, right down to matters such as this.

One admission that I shall make, and it should matter to them, is that they were far better than my attempts at photography. We have now worked up from solo artist to a two-piece and that is in fact an electronic drum kit, hence my proviso above.
The next act, another two-piece, was a different challenge entirely. Soundgarden doesn't come from Frome. Xenophobia has no place here either and Soundgarden comes from Bradford-on-Avon, although originally clearly even further away than that. This probably explains why one song was sung in Finnish.

Soundgarden - Acoustic Plus - October 14, 2011.

Joining the phalanx employing once almost forgotten acoustic instruments that have seen a huge resurgence, and therefore I have seen played live on many occasions, in the last couple of years it saw employment of the 'portable' harmonium. It is however the first time that I've seen one played predominantly as a lead instrument. Awesome. Some of the other songs they played had so much Roma influence that it sent me off in search of some vinyl (in my archive) from long, long ago...

Then this... and very different to all that had come before. Al O'Kane and Richard Kennedy have, so they say, only recently started playing as a duo.

Be scared. This is Americana territory - dust, rust and things more visceral. The next hobos, they might even have left for good on the next freight train out of town as it passed by the back of the Cheese and Grain, but who knows? I rather hope not.

Last to play was a very new-formed band, also all young, Haters. Yes, they are not acoustic, in fact quite the opposite, but I don't hold that against them not least because I like much electric and electronic music too. They were last to play and also suffered an electric guitar failure that upset their first track and were thus indubitably flustered. Such things happen. That can happen to any act at any venue, it was quite probably no fault of their own. I do, however, think that it might have been better if they had opened the event with all the others, in the same order and with the same time-slots, following. The other issue, and perhaps a more generally important one, is that if the drummer and guitarists are going to take to stages, ones as far apart as is obvious here, there will likely be a problem even if it is one only perceived by the audience.

Behold The Machine - Vernian Process

2011-10-11T20:52:00.003Z

Just to demonstrate that I scour the corners of as much as I can of that on offer, here is a free slice of Steampunk music for you. The artwork is very reminiscent to my mind of that of Hawkwind, Magnum (the earlier albums especially) and many other bands from that era. If I did not like it it would not be here.

Click image to stream the track (free, for now) or download the album.

New to me... music I found and more that I want.

2011-10-11T19:02:00.000Z

I'm not sure where to start this. It has some aspects of things I saw and heard at festivals this summer and more than a bit that also comes from almost all things Americana, which comes from the last four years of festivals and then just trying to find what else is out there. It will be a strange mixture - rent by contradictions - of genre and style. It think I'll start with two artists who are in fact English. Most of us can be snobby about the music we like and I'm no exception but ultimately I don't mind if I hear about something I really like via obscure recommendation or daytime commercial radio. If you find something that catches your attention here, that you then discover you like, then that is a bonus for me.
I have decided to start with the gentler option first.
The music is soft and ballad-heavy delta blues recorded in Nashville, with the vocal tropes that go with that, but then again 'Delta Maid' comes from Wavertree and while Merseyside has a long and glorious music heritage it is hardly on the scale of the Mississippi. Equally surprising, and perhaps a reflection of the change in UK music taste and the situation of the industry, it is a major label release (Geffen/Polydor). The two album tracks that also appeared on the 2010 vinyl Broken Branches EP are less raw and conventionally produced, which might be a reflection of this.

The aforementioned EP is also well worth having. The version of 'Any Way I Want To' on it is for my money the best thing that she has done so far; it is world weary and yet perfectly resigned to the fact. If you can find the promo CD version of the EP it includes two very good cover versions too.
If it however leaves you thinking that it is all a bit soppy and easy listening then try this instead. It is way more rattling and certainly not something to attempt if you are feeling the worse for wear - unless of course kill or cure is what you are after, in which case its just the job.

Ten all original songs from an artist in her early twenties when this, her début album, was released in 2009.

I had a listen to the songs on her myspace page but there was no easy way to be sure if it was representative of the album. It is released by German-based independent label Ruf Records and so I ordered it there and then. What a good idea that was!
It is quite a long album, at over 51 minutes, and I can't actually decide on my favourites on it despite a week of listening. One thing I can say for sure is that it doesn't suffer from the tendency of some such albums wherein either one or both of the artist and listener flags rather before the end. Indeed it finishes with the longest track on the album - Blackest Day - and despite its 8¼ minutes it is absolutely awesome.
It hardly needs to be said that her 2010 follow-up, Diamonds In The Dust, is next on my wants list and then to see her perform live.

I think I'll continue the theme with some genuine US artists that, although not new on the scene, have come in to the foreground of my conscience in the last couple of months.

Blackest day; brightest stars

2011-10-08T15:43:00.001Z

This is part thoughts on music for Halloween, part reflections on autumn and on music in general. There is nothing like economic uncertainty to inspire music. You can say that I am maudlin, if you wish to do so, but be aware that I might attempt to do more than merely defend myself against the accusation. I shall start with a frank admission: I never liked Morrissey's music much. I still don't to be quite honest but I do have to concede that he was spot on when it came to observation. He wins and I lose. Nothing changes much; Marr still plays guitar - I've seen and heard him doing it live - and he is still f***ing good at it. That is a point, but not my point here...

That all happened a quarter of a century ago. I can remember it, sort of I think, but it is no longer of today. I can certainly understand that too. What is surprising is the influence it still has and, more surprisingly, what is happening now. Try telling me in 1989 that we would be where we are in 2011 and I would have just laughed at the improbability of it all. Suggesting that I'd be writing this would have been a rather bad place to start. That is without the fact that, back then, we had no concept whatsoever of the revolution that Steve Jobs had in mind...
Steve Jobs did more for music in his lifetime than Michael Jackson could ever have hoped to do. Sorry.

What You Just Missed... Acoustic Moon 2

2011-10-04T20:54:00.002Z

It's still pretty new and it certainly hasn't settled in to any comfortable slot yet, but that is not to say that Acoustic Moon is anything other than remarkable. It is now harder than one might imagine to find an evening when there is not at least one live, often acoustic, event taking place within a few miles of Frome. In a local live-music milieu that is currently firing on all cylinders live, and in particular finding an audience, is not always easy however good the event and reasonable the admission.
Spoilt for choice, you might say, but you'd surely miss it if it were to disappear. This is just a flavour of what you missed last Thursday evening. It is not, in any sense, a rarefied or exclusive event. However little or much you know about the acoustic music scene is quite unimportant - all that matters is the enjoyment of live music whether it is familiar or not.

The first to play was an act, Cadencia, that I had not seen before. Original compositions played in Spanish guitar style, this was both acoustic and entirely instrumental.

Following that came Frome-based guitar duo Leonardo's Bicycle - it takes its name from a relatively obscure cover version that, of course, they played. Part of their special appeal is the irreverent and rather varied banter that intersperses the songs some of which, including the splendid 'Cley Hill' that is about a local landmark, are their own compositions.

They were one of the guests on the monthly 'Live Lounge' on Frome FM in September and that is worth a listen (which you can do right here and right now).

The second half was given over to two artists who had come up-country from distant South Devon especially for this. Nicky Swann previewed several songs from her forthcoming album, which has as its theme stories of the sea and seafaring.

This one is 'Newfoundland' and is about the fishermen who, from the 16th century onward, set sail from the ports of Devon and Cornwall to catch cod on the far-off Newfoundland Banks. There is an awful lot of very impressive new folk coming from the south west at the moment and this album is destined to add more to it.
She returns to Acoustic Moon for a second time on November 25, and I expect we shall hear more from this project then.
Last to play was Katie Marie, also from South Devon, and someone I have have heard and also mentioned in these posts before who also accompanied Nicky during some of the aforementioned set.

This was taken during the song 'Rostock', about touring in Germany.

Why not come along and join us for the next Acoustic Moon on October 27? If you can't wait that long then just sidle into Acoustic+, at the Cheese and Grain, Frome, on Friday 14 October - doors 8pm and admission £5 - for a slightly different take on acoustic.

Live music is not scary - all ages can enjoy it and are welcome...

A young audience and Lady Nade, live at Frome Festival - 9 July 2011.

Thoughts of Festivals - Latitude 2011 again.

2011-09-25T18:13:00.000Z

I decided to continue the theme. Almost as soon as I posted the previous one I was already half hoping that someone will convince me to change my mind.
Here are some more photos from Latitude 2011, starting on the main Obelisk Stage again and then working through the others.

Wanda Jackson covering Amy Winehouse's 'You Know I'm No Good'.

That it has a clock in it as rather strange: in her introduction to the song Jackson spoke of her concern for Ms. Winehouse's health. Almost exactly a week later it was announced that she was dead.

Isobel Campbell again, on the same stage that her former band Belle and Sebastian had headlined on the Saturday in 2010.

A highlight for me this year, and not just because it is tented and out of the rain, was the Word Arena; they had done a pretty good job of picking the acts for this and they were very varied, which formed the basis of the post about Festival Variety in late July. Here are a couple more pictures from the Saturday.

I have only ever seen a few acts that come from New Zealand performing live. Ladyhawke (second album eagerly awaited) and Otago's Ruby Suns being two that come to mind. This is the lead vocalist of the third one...

Alisa Xayalith of The Naked and Famous during a volcanic set.

As the rain continued to fall some good old-fashioned party spirit was needed and what better to conjure that than Bellowhead? Complete with a fiddle-duel.

That is the two larger stages done, at least for now, with the Lake Stage and Sunrise Arena to follow soon.

Thoughts on Festivals, 2011 and onwards

2011-09-25T15:06:00.001Z

Going to festivals is in fact an unexpected bonus that accrued from deciding to start this blog. Put simply it finally gave me the impetus to do something I had long wanted to do, which was to see and hear much more live music. In that time I have spent the equivalent of a month camping and experiencing outdoor festivals and I am in no mind to give it up now, indeed I already have tickets for two such in 2012. It all started with Latitude in 2007 and, after five years I will, more likely than not, give it a miss next year in order to try something else instead. Here are a few more photos from the Obelisk Stage that I took at Latitude this July and in this case of artists that are well established.

KT Tunstall

Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan

I thought that both these sets were astonishing, so that is not an issue that I have with Latitude, but I do think that they are in danger of letting the music suffer in the pursuit of the big picture. This is going to become ever harder on the smaller stages where the bespoke, often more nimble, festivals are able to compete very successfully indeed.

Lykke Li, on The Word Stage at Latitude 2011.

This was very good too but, while I didn't see it owing to a clash, I was reliably informed by others, who saw both this and also her subsequent performance at EOTR 2011, that the latter was even better. One might argue that after six years Latitude is maturing with its core audience. I started late in this, at least in the age game, and new music still excites me more than ever. EOTR was also on its sixth edition in 2011 and it just got better.
You can probably see my line of thought here and, with no Glastonbury in 2012 either, it will be interesting to see how the whole dynamic alters.

Sleepless nights and new music...

2011-09-24T22:40:00.001Z

The perhaps strange title of this post is less so to me. I have so much to write about and have listened to so much at festivals over the summer that it is now almost an inevitability. Some of this struck me whilst I was listening to the radio this last week: all full of students off to university for the first time and pondering the possibilities and pitfalls of Freshers' Week.
It made me think: that seems like a different life now. I tried to think what music I was listening to then. Not much I suspect, and even less that bears remembering let alone sharing with you. That was just short of 28 years ago!
More interesting perhaps is what, now twice-as-old-plus-a-decade-for-good-measure, I then imagined I might be listening to now. I don't think it ever crossed my mind...
One thing that I CERTAINLY never imagined is that I would be here, just now, writing this! Look at it another way - this was the time when CD players were as rare as rocking-horse shit and, once one had invested that money (and we are looking at near £1000 in actual cash then), there was precious little available to play on it and that which there was was mostly classical music.
Since then a great deal has happened, in music as in everything else. In these uncertain times it bears repeating that music has remained a steady companion. Of course it has changed but that is why it endures. I have changed too.
I still hate the person who lived above me in my first-year halls and went away for the weekend leaving Culture Club's 'Colour By Numbers' on continuous-play on their cassette player (remember those?). Even now, if I hear Karma Chameleon, I get flashbacks...
Forgiven but not forgotten. Musically things, mostly, got better after that and it might be time for some reminiscences. There is something about autumn and music for me. They just seem to go well together.

Acoustic+, Frome, September 16, 2011

2011-09-21T22:30:00.001Z

After a summer recess, following the Frome Festival, the event returned to the Cheese & Grain Friday last. The turn out was very encouraging and the audience was to hear some great music.

Four acts, as usual all very good, and the first to play was Ali George. Great guitar song-writing and largely unaccompanied.

The second is one that I have somehow managed to miss on more than one occasion previously. They come from Bristol and are Poppy and Friends.

There is a new EP - Flagged and Born To Be, just released to d/l (and also as a limited CD)...

...almost all of which are not however prone to fraying around the edges.

Next up was Dirk Landish. The album 'Blissful Drunken Blues' should be added to my suggestions for autumnal/fall music (see preceding post) and in this case it is harder to tell from which side of the Atlantic it draws the most inspiration.

Excellent I thought and seemingly I was far from the only one to think so, at an event that was very well attended. You can listen to much of the album on his site and also buy the album direct from there too.

Last, and thus headlining, were Bakudan. Combining African rhythm with other influences they are fusion beyond pigeon-holing. I saw a bit of Tinariwen (at End Of The Road Festival) a couple of weeks back and I didn't really get that. Perhaps it was just a case of live music overload but, whatever the matter, I found this much more accessible and appealing.

So much so that, rather than choose between these pictures, here are both of them.

All of this for £5. The next Acoustic+ takes place in the same venue, Cheese & Grain, Frome on October 14, 2011.

Of course you can't wait that long but then you don't have to because Acoustic Moon 2 is barely a week away and also promises a full evening of music for £5.

Not writing much but still listening...

2011-09-21T19:11:00.001Z

OK. You are probably thinking that after three three-day festivals in six weeks I would, or perhaps should, be posting almost every day. Well. Let's just say it rarely works out quite like that.
It is not that I don't have plenty to write about; quite the opposite as I have heard so much live music that it takes a while for me to think about it all what it meant to me, and how it relates together or doesn't. I've also been listening to more than a little new music too in the last two months - often just tracks posted as tasters on the internet etc. and while that might further complicates matters in terms of quantity it sometimes provides help in terms of inter-relation. A few of these things will have cropped up as un-linked items on the 'I've Just Listened To...' section on the side-bar, which I have recently moved to near the top as part of an ongoing rearrangement.
I hope to start to get my thoughts on the summer now gone and forthcoming releases trickling out soon but I shall be busy a couple of weekends.

Just a little later:
For the several people who have ended up here looking for 'music for Autumn' and/or 'music for Fall' (something I posted about at the start of summer last year) try this.

I love my house but were it to become detached from its terrace and dragged into the woods I think it might look much like this. I could live with that.

You can currently stream the whole album on Stereogum. It is released on vinyl and CD on October 17, 2011 by, as if I needed to say so, Bella Union.

EOTR 2011 - Friday from America

2011-09-10T13:09:00.001Z

Of course there was a wealth of acts from the US appearing over all three days of End Of The Road 2011 but Friday threw up a particularly interesting selection of ones that I really wanted to see performing live representing both coasts and much that comes between. I really enjoyed all of these sets. Here are two of them:

Tipi Stage, early Saturday afternoon - Sarabeth Tucek.

Her second album 'Get Well Soon' was released earlier this summer. I have had her self-titled début since it appeared in 2007 but I have no idea quite how I came to hear of this in the first place. Suffice it to say that it has been listened to consistently ever since. Neither album is really to be described as feel-good music at all, because the tone is too introspective and self-analytical for that. It is however very comforting and, while this might seen an odd thing to say when commenting on a festival performance, perhaps best listened to alone even if alone as part of a crowd and being in a crowd can be a particularly alienating kind of loneliness.

The contrast with the next act could hardly have been more pronounced. In a couple of minutes I walked from the indoor intimacy of the Tipi stage to the glorious afternoon sunshine of the Wood Stage and in doing so I travelled from the preoccupations of the Atlantic north-east to those of the beaches of California.

This was feel-good, beach party music. I swear I could hear the sound of surf by the end of the set.

This is Best Coast. Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno. Wood Stage, Saturday afternoon.

I couldn't convince the others that this was the way forward so I went along regardless. The whole point of music such as this, as I see it, is that it is frivolous and inconsequential fun. The whole set followed this approach, and it was great. In between the songs random chat involving such things as Snacks' thoughts on life - Snacks is Bethany Cosentino's cat, who appears on the 'Crazy For You' album cover and also in numerous band publicity shots, in case you were wondering!

This could all lead to a diffuse, rambling performance. It took me a few songs to work out why it was not so. One person, and only one person, was in charge of this live show and that was the drummer, Ali Koehler.

Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose

2011-09-08T23:01:00.003Z

The début album, which also has one of the most astonishingly curious titles of recent times, is finally released on Mute Records on January 24, 2012. If you were not lucky enough to be at EOTR watching this set then let me say something: I had long ago worked out that she was good at what she does but then this was quite something.

Beth Jeans Houghton and The Hooves of Destiny....

Live on the Garden Stage at End Of The Road Festival 2011, Saturday 3 September. This is the third time I have seen the whole band live and it just gets better and better. For 2009/2010 coverage of Beth Jeans Houghton and The Hooves of Destiny see 'I Will Return, I Promise'.
It is strange, in a very good kind of way, and I trust Mute Records with that.

If you wonder why that is, go listen to Polly Scattergood's 2009 self-titled début album that was also released by Mute. And, by the way, she's busy with the next one and I can't wait for that either.

EOTR 2011 - O Canada! (Part 2)

2011-09-07T21:17:00.000Z

This was the most amazing thing - the band I thought least likely to... Slow Down, Molasses is one I have known about for some time. 'I'm An Old Believer' but that wasn't going to mean that I might get to see them live unless I went to Canada which, expense aside, I would be quite happy to do. Thanks to EOTR I saw them twice. Here they are playing for the second time on the Tipi Stage at, so my camera tells me, 01:50 on Monday morning.

That I hot-footed it from the Garden Stage to the Tipi Stage, making it just in time for their first set, made the perfect start to Sunday. Why the need to do this? Well I just had to see fellow Canadians Lightning Dust too, also for the first time.

Amber Webber and Joshua Wells are the heart of Lightning Dust.
They are also half of Black Mountain.

EOTR 2011 - O Canada! (Part 1)

2011-09-06T22:00:00.002Z

I have a soft spot for a great deal of music that comes out of Canada, in case you haven't already noticed, and I posted to this effect recently.
This last weekend I was spoilt rotten. Here are just two of my highlights in no particular order and more will follow on this topic.
I shall start with Timber Timbre. Their world is one of mist and shadows. They shun publicity and certainly would not be found signing CDs in the Rough Trade pop-up shop. This extends to the live show too so luckily, on a glorious sunny Saturday afternoon, they were ensconced in the perpetual twilight of the Big Top Stage.

It was easy for the lighting guys but the unchanging red glow well suited the music too.

I need the album 'Creep On Creeping On'.

Immediately following them on the same stage was a band whose recent album 'Feel It Break' I have been listening to quite often in the last month or two. The prospect of seeing them live therefore excited me but, from experience, such expectation can prove to be a double-edged sword. This time it was not. The band is Austra, its front-woman Katie Stelmanis.

Rather electro, rather noir in a slightly Gothic but not-at-all-depressing kind of way and utterly spellbinding. If these had been the only memorable performances by Canadian artists that I saw over the weekend I'd have been just fine about it.
It wasn't quite like that.

End Of The Road 2011

2011-09-06T20:29:00.003Z

OK. I'm back home, have caught up on some of my accumulated sleep deficit, and so it is time to write something. Just how good was EOTR 2011?
Well, for once, words fail me. Actions speak louder and so I have just bought my ticket for End Of The Road 2012. See you there? This year it was bigger than before, that is certainly true. I and most of the people that I spoke to that had also attended in previous years concurred that it was actually even better than before.

In the gardens, just before the start of play on Friday.

A few minutes later... Secret Sisters on the Garden Stage. What's not to like?

Until this year the Garden Stage was the main one, but the new format required a larger one too and that is the Wood Stage.

Much more to come over the next couple of weeks as I'm intending to link this in with more comments about and pictures from the other festivals that I have been to this summer. I also want to overhaul and refresh the contents of the side bar but it all takes time.

Acoustic Moon - 25 August 2011

2011-08-26T20:22:00.093Z

Yesterday evening was the inaugural edition of a new acoustic event - Acoustic Moon - and I was delighted to be there. The venue is The Full Moon pub in the village of Rudge, just a few miles from Frome and within the same orbit lie Warminster, Westbury and Trowbridge. The nearest planet providing all means of life-support is generally perceived to be Bath.

The next question is where to start. I don't want to make enemies and since the long dead can't Twitter, or I least I hope not, I shall follow the advice of the court: start at the beginning, continue to the end and then stop.
I've never envied the position of an opening act or artist; head-liners may disappoint, spectacularly and in front of a tens-of-thousands of fans at a festival, but the few can be worse than the masses. If you have ever seen a pub band suffer that fâte, and you probably have, then you know exactly what I mean. My photography was rubbish. You must make an exception for that. My report said that, if I tried harder, I might do better next time.

Please don't let that make you think any less of the artists, or their music, for they were all amazing. The unenviable task of launching Acoustic Moon, just weeks after the final Space Shuttle flight and in the week that saw the abject failure of a multi-million-costing unmanned Russian space mission that launched nothing at all, fell to Saravian.

Mission accomplished. Acoustic Moon is now in earth orbit.

There are some things that I have an uncanny knack of doing and one of them is managing to miss Mark Abis when he is is playing live in, or around, Frome. He does so often and yesterday I finally failed to do this too.

Mark Abis - Acoustic Moon 25 August 2011.

I don't know if he'd agree with me about this but, in the week that the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary finally included Americana as a noun describing a specific genre of music, he is an extremely good UK purveyor of it. He might not like this either - one of the songs he played reminded me so much of Jack Johnson that, had I heard it played unannounced on the radio, I would have simply assumed by default that it was.

The next to feature were special guests Linda and Mark and, while following the lead, this was in no way Americana; rather five songs from the combined songbook of the great US female vocalists of the mid-twentieth century and should you think that the set-up violates the 'acoustic' moniker then I can reassure you that the Nord keyboard was firmly in piano mode.

It was certainly dangerous vocal territory carefully navigated.

Next to perform was Brighton-based, but Dorset bred, Emily Baker.
There is something that immediately defines but does not confine her and many others, and to an extent her self-written songs too, which has nothing to describe it adequately that appears in the dictionary (Concise Oxford English, of course): There has been much soul-searching for a 'label' for some time and, while I only first heard it a month or so ago, Anglicana will have to do for now and it is certainly a whole lot better than most of the others that have been attached to such things. This music is not entirely traditional, nor is it obviously Celtic inspired, and she is very good at it indeed.

Emily Baker - Acoustic Moon - 25 August 2011.

Just don't ask about the Sturminster mutants... it was all part of the patter, and audience banter, between songs and that genuine and unforced connection is something that very many artists lack. If you haven't heard the 2011 album 'House Of Cards' then you need to. If you have then you need this, her 2009 début EP, too...

This and the album are available, in real physical format (CD), direct from her website.

The evening was completed by duo Jacquelyn Hynes and J Eoin. This was certainly celtic music at its most inventive and yet also often very traditional. The tunes from the ongoing 'Lost in...' project were particularly interesting.

This one was taken when they returned for an encore.

There was not a great deal of light to take pictures but, and this is my personal opinion, using a flash would have ruined the atmosphere. On the other hand can you believe that this much amazing live music is available to you for just £5?
The next Acoustic Moon is at the same venue on Thursday, 29 September and at the same price and I believe that now includes tickets purchased on the door too.
You can now just decide to go on a whim and not pay a premium. I have actually seen most of the acts appearing at the next event - I'm certain to be going and I don't think that you will be disappointed.

See you there.

Don't Stop Singing - a mixed case of folk - Part 3

2011-08-21T17:13:00.018Z

There are some people whose work rate never ceases to amaze me. Thea Gilmore is the queen of them. Covering the entire Bob Dylan album 'John Wesley Harding' (1967), taking that as a "live and complete" performance to London's Union Chapel, as well as finishing touring the 2010 original album 'Murphy's Heart' would be enough for most people in one year.
I saw her live at Latitude in July, on the Sunrise Stage, and here she is.

Accompanied by her husband Nigel Stonier and both just hoping that their second child didn't chose an inconvenient time and location for its first festival appearance. So you might think that would be the last one would hear of her in 2011. Think again. And this makes even the aforementioned 'John Wesley Harding', of which the great man wholeheartedly approves, apparently, almost seem less brave.

It really is a mixed case of folk: at the behest of Sandy Denny's estate she agreed to attempt to write music to go with the unrecorded song lyrics that Denny had completed before her untimely death in April 1978 and thus some eighteen months before Thea herself was born. I find it hard to imagine how anyone might feel when asked to commit to a project of that nature. Apart from the task of writing, and assuming it was done successfully, who might they then ask to collaborate on the recording let alone possible live performance of the work?
'Don't Stop Singing' is released in the UK on October 24. I don't think it is going to be the easiest release of which to contemplate listening. At least not for the first time but then, if there are any capable of pulling it off, it is certainly in the right hands. The first chance to hear any of it, and performed live, will be at the 4th Words and Music Festival, Nantwich, Cheshire, 5-9 October 2011.

Sad Thoughts On Music.

2011-08-20T12:21:00.002Z

It has been a rotten couple of weeks for music of all kinds and across continents. Strictly in date-order: PIAS fire (commercially speaking), Indiana State Fair and now Pukklepop.

My sympathy goes to everyone who has lost family, friends and their livelihood as a result of these events.
Music is, however, just too important to buckle under this and I think the victims would not want it to do so. All of us, from casual music radio listeners to festival-goers, owe it to the victims and all others concerned that it does not.
It has to be a promise. Forever.

New Music 2011 → Canada → EOTR 2011

2011-08-16T22:47:00.027Z

"My brain is speeding faster than my mouth can move."

Strange but, to purloin a lyric from an EOTR artist in 2010 (not a Canadian one as it happens), it currently applies to my writing too. It isn't something that, for better or for worse, happens all the time.

I'm not sure where to start and have no idea where it might end but here goes anyway. In one sense it is a little like 'The Mad Hatter's Tea Party' but, unlike a rather different Tea Party, shockingly liberal-minded.

OK, that's just plain silly so let us start with the act that takes its name from the study of tea leaves, or if you prefer it coffee grounds, as a means to divine the future. From Canada, based in Toronto but raised in Halifax and formerly known as Ghost Bees (2008-10), it is still twin sisters Romy and Sari Lightman. In 2010, reflecting the changed nature of their music to include diverse new influences, they changed their moniker to Tasseomancy (word definition).

They release their début album under this name, Ulalume, on Toronto-based independent label Out Of This Spark on August 30, 2011 in Canada. That it is also the title of a poem by Edgar Allan Poe, who was never the most conventional and cheerful of souls, should serve as due warning. We might well be looking at a 2011 take on 'New Albums For Autumn' here - and quite possibly a premature trip into Halloween play-list territory too.

On the face of it this might seem to have little to do with End of The Road 2011 but that may not be the case. Two bands, both of which I want to see live for the first time, are booked to appear at EOTR 2011. The first of them is Austra, which is touring the electronic-biased album 'Feel It Break'.

Creep On Creepin' On - Timber Timbre (2011)

The Lightmans are an integral part of Austra's touring line up and Timber Timbre, that produced and also guested on Ulalume, is also performing. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

New Music 2011 - A mixed case of folk - Part 2

2011-08-09T20:03:00.008Z

To continue the theme from yesterday I shall add that one long-term characteristic of folk music is the permutations and combinations game. Jon Boden and John Spiers may be two elevenths of Bellowhead - indeed the founding ones - but that does not mean the resulting endeavour has subsumed them (or indeed the other nine members). They have also been performing as a duo - more or less - for a decade now, releasing several LPs in that time, so perhaps some kind of simple 'Greatest Hits' is in order?

Not at all. 'The Works' (Navigator Records) has been released instead and it throws some surprises not least of which include the guests: Eliza Carthy, Maddy Prior, Martin Simpson and many others. Available now, it was released in July 2011.

This is the track list:

Tom Padget
Horn Fair
Gooseberry Bush/Laudanum Bunches
The Birth Of Robin Hood
The Cheshire Waltz
Brown Adam
Rochdale Coconut Dance
Old Maui
Haul Away
Bold Sir Ryles
Prickle-eye Bush

This next album in this post is another collaborative compilation and will be released by Shrewsbury Folk Fest on September 5, 2011.

You will no doubt spot the theme here: some artists link the LPs mentioned in this and yesterday's post. It is to be an 18-track CD - accompanied by an 18-track DVD - and I believe the price is going to be quite reasonable.
This is the track list:

Mining For Songs
Mother England
Jeff Sturgeon's / I Like You, You're Common / When Lenny Met Andy Met Patsy
Cecil's Greatest Hits Vol.1
Dear Kimber
Lover's Lament
The CooCoo Bird
Meadows of Dan
Ol' Groundhog
Black Mountain Lullaby
Child's Song; Barbara Allen
Aunt Maria
Beautiful Maud
Veggie In The Holler
Earl Brand
Ghost Of Songs
The Great Divide
Maud & Cecil

Shrewsbury Folk Festival 2011 takes place from 26 - 29 August and, looking at the line-up, my ideas on which festivals to consider for next year are looking more complicated with each passing week.

New Music 2011 - A mixed case of folk - Part 1

2011-08-08T21:15:00.009Z

A few of the LPs (I still like to call them that, whatever their format) that I am to mention here might have appeared in these pages before, if only in passing. Many of the artists most certainly have been mentioned and, for those that only recall the 1960s/1970s blossoming of folk and new folk, there are some returnees too.

I shall start with the latest LP, 'Saturnine' by Jackie Oates. It is her fourth solo recording unless I am mistaken. It immediately caught my attention because I am listening to her previous one 'Hyperboreans' (2009) so frequently at the moment. It will be released by ECC Records on September 12, 2011.

Whilst it has a great deal of influence from the south west of England, where she is now based, I can't imagine that the final song 'Fortune Turns The Wheel' is anything other than a version of that traditional song from the north east of England.

I have definitely mentioned this next LP in passing. It is already released.

'Adelphi Has To Fly' - Lucy Ward (Navigator Records, 2011)

This is her début album, at least commercially, and is a mixture of new songs and brave interpretations of older ones and its creator comes from the vicinity of Derby. The fact that it is released by Navigator Records says quite a lot about it in my opinion.

To be continued, probably in several parts --- but with it comes a thought on continuity:

Back in the days of the aforementioned first folk revival there was a label that was a huge part of it. It is still going strong three decades down the line; it is Topic Records.

Sunday listening (and some more new music)...

2011-07-31T17:05:00.015Z

Still feeling a bit of the post-festival blues but at least I'm not tired any more. Still looking through the photos that I have taken in the last couple of weeks and listening to... well a strange mixture really. Part of it by, or influenced by, artists that I have heard live recently but interspersed with other stuff, new and old. Maybe the whole Amy Winehouse thing has had influences in such matters but I seem to have dug out stuff by those who expired prematurely. Alan Hull's 1973 solo album 'Pipedream' being something that was long overdue a revival, once I could find it in my collection that is.
In fact you could make the case that today's playlist is pretty gloomy and introspective but, to me at least, it doesn't seem that way. The album 'Violet Cries', as well as being by Esben and The Witch and a band that I have seen live at Latitude 2010 and 2011, is almost certain to appear on my end of year 'best of' lists. Some acts work better on some stages but, all things considered, I'm not sure that any can beat the Sunset Stage at Latitude, even if it is raining.

Rachel Davies of Esben & The Witch. Friday, Sunset Stage, Latitude 2011.

I can think of a couple of other albums that might well be tussling with the above in those lists. This is one that I haven't even heard yet. That sounds stupid I suppose; but then buying new music totally unheard is something that I enjoy. The problem is that the more involved I become the more I hear, which actually makes it harder to do. I've read some reviews - summery music with female vocals - of the début album from Seapony.

'Go With Me' - Seapony. Hardly Art Records - out now on vinyl, CD and download.

Another strong contender is by a band that I saw at EOTR 2010 and again last weekend at Truck 2011. The début album 'Gracious Tide, Take Me Home' will be released by the Tyneside six-piece Lanterns On The Lake on Bella Union Records in early Autumn.

They played a few tracks from it on the Clash Stage at Truck last Sunday, which combined with the EPs that I already have makes this a near certainty. They are also appearing at End of The Road 2011 too. Whilst on the subject of bands touring début albums the first act that I saw at Latitude this year was Montreal's BRAIDS, with the recently released 'Native Speaker' (Kanine Records - vinyl, CD and download) - what a great way to start a festival and again on the delightful Sunset Stage.

This stage was also the setting for the best headline show that I have seen so far in 2011, about which more to follow, and once again an act on the trail with their first album offering.

Friday evening with no live music.

2011-07-29T18:20:00.016Z

It seems strange. It is not actually remotely unusual but after two weekends spent at festivals it suddenly does: normality has become slightly surreal, which is interesting in itself. I wonder if, when I wake tomorrow morning, I shall be surprised to discover that I am not in a tent or even inside a sleeping bag? To all of you at festivals this weekend, and during August too, have a great time. I'm taking a break (from festivals, well probably) until the first weekend of September and that, of course, is End Of The Road 2011.
So that means, as well as catching up with household chores, more time to explore all the non-festival aspects of music and perhaps to write. I shall also attempt to sort through the pictures that I have taken, all that I have heard and seen, my thoughts and memories, if only to divine just what it meant to me.

So I'm gonna sleep with the light on

And I'm gonna drink in the afternoon.

Here is an interesting question. What music would you play if an hour was yours to fill and the mission was to convert others to the virtues of physical music?

New Music 2011 - Evi Vine - and so the morning comes

2011-07-27T20:55:00.004Z

I've not added a post like this for a few weeks but that is not to say that I haven't been keeping an eye and an ear open for new delights. This one is something I can't resist mentioning.

I'm not going to say anything more just now. Listen and you might understand why.

Acoustic @ Truck 2011

2011-07-27T19:31:00.025Z

Truck is certainly not a folk festival, indeed it doesn't pretend to try to be one, but given the contents of this post you could be forgiven for wondering. This is not a complete list by any means, rather just some of the acoustic artists that I saw. It did however give rise to much discussion about the minefield that is musical sub-genre when discussing such things - be they new folk, Anglicana, or some other name you choose. Whatever else they share (or don't) one common thread in such songs and many traditional ones is a sense of place and belonging be that from the perspective of being there or, for whatever reason, of not being (able to be) there. Is is nicely summed up in a line from a song performed by this first artist. I think that it also sums up the spirit of a good festival too.

"With your sense of dislocation you make the perfect travelling companion."

Roddy Woomble - Main Stage - Saturday afternoon.

Most of the set naturally comprised his recent solo material but the above lyric is from the Idlewild song 'Take Me Back To The Islands'. He and his family now live on Mull.

Other inveterate wanderers featured in the line up. Duo Trevor Moss and Hannah Lou are as likely to be found touring by canal boat or camper van than the more modern means of so-called luxury transport.

The Clash Stage was curated by label Heavenly Records on the Saturday (of which phenomenon more later) and they were appearing on that bill.
On Sunday the same stage was host to a selection of artists chosen by Bella Union Records, a label that I have mentioned many times in posts before, and this is one recent addition to their family of artists.

Alessi's Ark - Clash Stage - Sunday afternoon.

Please don't just take my word for it:

"(She) played with a delicacy — and a casualness — that would simply be impossible anywhere else here (at SXSW)."

New York Times

This fall she is returning to the US as main support artist for Laura Marling's headline tour.

All in all four stages were involved in this and here is an artist that has been on my want-to-see list for some time. On Saturday the Last FM Stage was dedicated to acts that, in one way or another, are part of Oxford's Blessing Force Collective.

Rhosyn - Last FM Stage - Saturday afternoon.

While this next picture is far from the best the same can hardly be said of the assembled line up!

Wood Stage - Saturday evening.

Kris Drever and Heidi Talbot both performed sets that evening in this smallest of venues. This was taken during the latter but, as the assembled cast was much the same, you will have to take my word for that. I'd call this a super-group: L - R: Roddy Woomble (backing vocal), John McCusker (fiddle and, on one song, whistle), Heidi Talbot (vocals) and Kris Drever (guitar and backing vocal).

The tendency of folk musicians to combine in new permutations is legendary, and you could start a multi-dimensional tree starting with these alone, but Truck had some collaborative surprises beyond that to come later.

Lastly, and back to the Main Stage where this post started, this set did spawn some of the aforementioned sub-genre discussions and for very good reasons too.

Michele Stodart - Main Stage - Sunday lunchtime.

Eclectic and astonishing are two adjectives that I might apply to all of this and yet it was just one facet of what I saw last weekend.

Festivals are, to an extent, what you choose to make of them. I'm fairly convinced that many present paid their ticket price and spent almost the entire time drinking and chatting in the camp site. Far be it for me to criticize, and not least because it made the stages less crowded, but it is not the route that I choose to travel.

What the Truck? In search of music as fun...

2011-07-26T19:14:00.023Z

Never before have I attempted two 3-day festivals on successive weekends: Latitude followed by Truck Festival this weekend just gone. When I added the latter in April it was because it just seemed an interesting thing to do and a way of seeing a wider range of live music. It did occur to me that, whilst almost certainly interesting, that might not be wholly in a positive way.
After two wet days at Latitude I was still wondering about the wisdom of it all. The contrast, not just in the weather, was such that once I had arrived on site in Oxfordshire I forgot clean about it because they were so different and that is the starting point here.
The following comments are not intended as a criticism of either event: Gone was the throng and corporate sponsorship gloss of Latitude and in came the homespun, almost folksy, intimacy of Truck Festival. It was very much a place to go to see and listen to music rather than a place to go to be seen to be listening to music. It was certainly a whole lot of fun and one very much got the impression that the artists were enjoying themselves too. All kinds of music were on offer, from acoustic folk on the Wood Stage (and elsewhere) to technicolour noiseniks on the Last FM Stage and most things in between including more than a few lesser-known acts from middle England. As usual the problem is where to start.

Let's start with two bands that admitted that they had been burning the candle at both ends before appearing!

London based Tribes on the Last FM Stage on Sunday afternoon. They had been performing, and partying, at 'Secret Garden Party' the night before and apologized for being jaded. If this is what they can do in that state then the mind boggles. Despite the guitars and drums set-up and the powerful sound their songs are hook-laden. Should you want to know how I think guitar-led pop should sound then it is pretty much like this.

Cashier No. 9 hails from Belfast. Here it is on the Clash Stage on Sunday lunch time.

Another good effort because this set was faultless despite the fact that they came on stage just twelve hours after they had come off the one at their previous gig in Londonderry. It was summer music played out live on a perfect summer's day and the band has recently released its first album, the aptly titled 'To The Death Of Fun', on Bella Union Recordings.

This last comment leads me to another thought from the weekend - the resurgence of the record releasing 'label' as a guide to style and content. It was also a weekend that involved much discussing music and, in that sense, was much more reminiscent of End Of The Road than of Latitude.

Variety is the festival word

2011-07-21T22:24:00.010Z

One of the things that I find hardest to do when thinking about writing about festivals is to devise some hopefully coherent plot. That difficulty is actually also one of the great selling points of the very same festivals - the bewildering variety to be found there. It is perhaps no surprise that 'Thoughts on Music' is a blog title that conveniently makes it quite difficult to go totally off-message!
Here are a few pictures, all from Latitude 2011 but in no particular order, of acts that I saw on the tented 'Word Stage' and all of which I particularly enjoyed. Last year I spent a disproportionate time in front of the Lake Stage but this year very little in comparison. I spent it here instead.

The Naked and Famous, from New Zealand.

Tirelessly energetic and incredibly tight - it is hard to credit that this time last year they were all but unheard of beyond their distant home-shores. The début album 'Passive Me, Aggressive You' has certainly carved them a home from home and a well deserved live following.

The reliable half of a totally unpredictable, but equally legendary, musical partnership.

Carl Barât and his own band finished with something you just knew they couldn't resist!

There were plenty of those hats in tribute to HMP Peter Doherty but no delays, no bust-ups, just a thoroughly professional and entertaining set. The new solo material was very interesting too but equally I had failed to realize how good the 'Dirty Pretty Things'-era Barât material would sound live. That cello wasn't included as a nod to current trends; it played a major part in the structure of the sound.

More assuredly in the traditional and acoustic theme was Bellowhead. It is true that it is a 'marmite' band in that those who do not like it tend to do so with a passion. I am not one of them.

In my opinion they can do no wrong and, given this performance, I believe that I am right.

I should have taken this differently as I only managed to include nine of the eleven band members.

The next is another band that I have seen before at Latitude (in 2008, I think). If you are going to make quirky indie guitar rock then the best way to do it is with absolute conviction but on the face of it there seems to be nothing remotely unusual doing here.

You may not make as many fans that way but, as British Sea Power amply demonstrates, the ones you do will be equally passionate and quirky too. The fascination with greenery goes back to the earliest days of the band, though don't ask me why. For those wondering about the return of guitar bands in 2011 this is one to make you realize that they never really went away.

Last but not least, in what is still a far from complete synopsis of the acts I saw on the Word Stage last weekend, is James Vincent McMorrow.

These songs were mostly from the 2011 album 'Early In The Morning'. If you think that it is good (and it is) then live it is just something else.

Latitude 2011 - my first thoughts...

2011-07-20T19:00:00.011Z

First to mention is that the weather wasn't all that could have been hoped for. In a strange way I'm glad that I have now experienced and survived an often rather soggy festival. I have in truth been very lucky thus far. On the other hand I hope that the experience did not discourage those first time festival-goers from repeating the experience. Yes there was some mud, unlike in previous years, but nothing like that to be found at the likes of Glastonbury. I took no pictures of that for it was unremarkable and merely a slight annoyance at worst.

Of course good weather is better for all outdoor activities but, judging from most of the arguments that I overheard, often from within my tiny but dependable tent, it was camping in the wet that led to most of the problems and attendant arguments; it seems to lead to frayed nerves and fractiousness that results in an irrational blame culture.

I didn't take any mud pictures and few that even made the rain seem apparent simply because that is not in the spirit of the whole affair and, in any case, Friday was a glorious English summer's day!

Just how a festival should be - chilling in front of the main stage on Friday lunchtime.

This next one does however capture the wetness of Saturday and, because essentially solo acts on a big stage in daylight always lack visual punch, it looks bleaker than it really was.

Suffolk lad and 2011 success story Ed Sheeran performing 'The A Team' on the Obelisk Stage. It was a very good set indeed and there was no shortage of excellent music from my perspective across all three days.

The first act I saw, on the Sunset Stage on Friday, was Montreal's BRAIDS.

They had been on my want-to-see list for sometime but until the Thursday I had somehow neglected to notice that they were actually performing.

I have loads more to add and I haven't even looked at 75% of the pictures I took yet!
There might be a slight delay as on Friday I'm off to Truck Festival in Oxfordshire for the first time and so once I return on Monday I should have more than enough to write about for the whole of the rest of the summer, or at least until EOTR 2011 over the first week in September by which time the first Acoustic Moon will also have taken place.

Latitude 2011 - Play List and Clash Finder

2011-07-12T20:58:00.005Z

Don't worry your heads with the supposed smartphone app. (I can't - I don't have a smartphone). It has been added here:

PLAY LIST/LINE UP:
http://clashfinder.com/m/lat2011/

CLASH FINDER:
http://clashfinder.com/s/lat2011/

Please send your messages of thanks and support to the folks that made this possible! I think, judging from the announcements in the Latitude site today that there are more additions on Thursday that were announced too late for addition to the above synopsis.

Just been packing... See you all there, come rain or shine.

Lady Nade - live in Frome

2011-07-10T21:16:00.004Z

Yesterday evening was the combined Frome Festival Feast and Acoustic+. It was all good - the food, the weather, the music and the impressive turnout being just four things that readily come to mind. About the appearance of Frome's mayor in a swimming costume, but still with the regalia that befits his status, I am less sure [but I do have a picture]. Rather than attempt a full low-down on the events I will mention two things.
The first is that there were so many children there, from infants upwards, and most were interested in the music. The other observation is that just sometimes one act will, for all the great endeavours of the others, simply steal the show. I've seen this a couple of times before, mostly at festivals, and one of the tricks is that as well as it being an unpredictable phenomenon they do so seemingly without trying.

Yesterday was a case in point and Bristol's Lady Nade was the one to pull it off. Soul-jazz it might be but it is most certainly inflected by her remarkable contralto. I'd already heard it recorded and even so it was a surprise live. Watching what happened when people walked in from outdoors - many probably just wondering where their kids had gone - was very interesting.

Most of the kids were upfront and most of the adults just stood and listened.

Frome Festival 2011 - Launch Party

2011-07-09T16:05:00.016Z

The opening gambit was the launch party, held at Rook Lane Chapel, on Thursday evening. It was quite some event and to begin it were two artists that have featured in these posts before.

Barbara J Hunt (guitar and vocals) and Dizzi (percussion and dulcimer).

The dulcimer appeared of course, not least because she has just released her own signature model, as did the hang drums.

The Frome Festival is not just about music, far from it, although that is mostly where my interest lies. I have however mentioned that Frome has a wide range of independent shops and one amongst them actually has a poet-in-residence. Here she is...

...welcome to the (largely imaginary) world of Muriel Lavender.

From Frome's industrious Freecycle community to, via the topic of Marks and Spencer Food advertising, the contents of Dervla Kirwan's fridge not much was spared the searchlight. It was funny and then some... now I understand why there is a whole poetry arena at Latitude. If it is half as good as this I might have to check it out this coming weekend.

Local politics was mentioned too (there is no longer any music in Wiltshire, apparently) and one of this event's main organisers, Leander Morales, lives just across the border. A regular feature on the Frome scene, as Morales Watts, they were joined by a violinist for this set.

For the most part they play original material but, this once, included a seemingly improbable cover song as a sing-along. It worked. People sang! It was song that, thanks to The Animals' version of 'House of The Rising Sun', is one that almost everybody has some knowledge of and not least because this iconic version topped the singles chart in UK, USA and Canada. What is lost in this is that the song is a traditional one and it could easily have become extinct in the canon were it not for some recordings of local singers made in East Kentucky several decades before.
It is a recurring theme, one that Cecil Sharp well understood in relation to English folk dance and song.

Then there were some short films, conceived and produced by students at Frome College. They were very good too but do not lend themselves to still photography.

Next was Benji Kirkpatrick, one member of the recently all-conquering Bellowhead. Frome Cheese & Grain is again to be visited by the whole ensemble on Friday 25, November. The solo set was a rather different, and very personal, affair. The patter was excellent which, when faced with a guitar that goes out of tune and breaks strings, is some trial. I now want to hear some of the recorded solo material, much of which is about travelling.

This eight-string instrument and his 5-string banjo had no such tendencies.

He said, about the banjo, that apart from the accordion few instruments are less liked. In my world, and that of many others that I know on both sides of the Atlantic, this could be hardly be further from the truth. He then proceeded to play a Jimi Hendrix cover on it. Give me some time and I will remember which song it was!

Last up was Luke Concannon. Of course there was the 'JCB Song', as it was his to play as one of Nizlopi, (and as he reminded us, it kept fellow Irishmen Westlife from the #1 spot in the UK singles chart) but the rest was equally genius. If you want a party - and surely Ireland could use any excuse for one these days - then he was up for it.

Who needs amplification and all that stuff anyway? I wonder if the staff at the venue thought it might never end...

Festivals and stuff - Part 2

2011-07-03T20:07:00.007Z

How good it would be if the weekends of Latitude and Truck Festival were as perfect as the one that we have just experienced here in sunny Somerset. When it comes to festival weather then the best one can really hope for is good planning (by all concerned) in advance and palliative measures once the show has started.

In my last post I mentioned that I had come across a clash-planner for Truck Festival 2011 (and also some others). Bear in mind that it can only be as accurate as the data to which its maker has access, and you therefore keep checking back as the date nears, but as planning goes it is certainly a good place to start. It has also served to remind me of some of the acts that appearing and which made my decide to make Truck 2011 my third festival of the summer and my first time at this particular event, now in its 14th year. I had initially considered Deer Shed 2011, a newcomer on just its second edition, but the travel issues - as it is in North Yorkshire and like Truck it is the weekend immediately after Latitude - won the day for me as much as the then published list of performers.
Looking at the Line-Up listing on the same site makes me think that this is going to be a bumper event when it comes to seeing artists that I have never really heard of before, as well as those that I have. Some on-line research will have to precede much of the more detailed planning.
In a similar vein to my post about Latitude 2011 and likewise in alphabetical order, these are some that I am aware of but have, so far, never seen live. This list is done without any reference to the clash-list: what I want to do becomes before that which is actually possible.

Alessi's Ark
Gunning For Tamar
Islet
Johnny Flynn
Jonquil
Justin Townes Earle
Peggy Sue
Pete Molinari
Rhosyn
Roddy Woomble
Sea Of Bees
Tunng

Much more to come, including more thoughts and links, very soon. Going to a festival is always exciting even when it is a familiar one. That Truck is new to me adds that extra frisson. I was half convinced as I drove to Latitude, for the first time in 2007, that I'd just freak out and come straight back home!

It might be worthwhile mentioning that (as of this evening, July 3) the last Latitude 2011 Weekend Tickets are going fast and when they are gone they are gone...
As of this evening (July 5) tickets for Truck Festival 2011 are still available. See you there?

2011 Festivals and stuff - Part 1

2011-07-02T14:46:00.015Z

Important, but rather dull, things first: I've just collected the most vital things together and checked that all parts are present and correct and thus I am reminded so much of my days supervising Duke of Edinburgh Award Expeditions - there is no better way to look a fool than to forget, or lose, those things about which you have lectured everyone else.
Tent, sleeping-bag, sleeping-mat and (the thing that I forget more often than anything else when camping) a pillow. The last item might seem relatively unimportant, because a pile of clothes can take its place; well yes it can, but a cheap synthetic pillow that doesn't get damp is much better and when shut-eye is at a premium this matters. I know because I forgot mine in 2007. It is indeed a somewhat mundane task but the anticipation it engenders makes it all worthwhile!

Yesterday someone asked if I have a list of timings for music artists at Latitude 2011. I'm afraid that I do not, at least currently, have such information because I'd like it too, so that I could plan my days but such is life. [If you do have some idea, even if it is only fragmentary, then please add a comment.]
On the other hand that is something to do on Thursday afternoon, official festival programme in hand, once the tent is pitched and life in the orthogonal dimension has begun!
That has just made me remember other things to take - a pencil and paper (soft pencils still work on damp paper) to make notes, either about the timings or on the acts that one sees. Add to that insect repellent - I have run out so now added to shopping list - and to check the basic first aid kit.
Planning is good but inflexibility stifles discovery. Having a preconceived plan, some structure at least, is very worthwhile even if exigencies, either personal preference or unavoidable such as changes of artist or performance times, result in last minute changes. I have never actually done exactly what I planned to do and I've never really regretted it either. In a strange way the regrets of what I might have seen or done but, for whatever reason, couldn't just makes me want to go to another festival.

Here is an artist that was certainly not on my 'to-see' list at Latitude 2010 because I hadn't even heard of her a year ago. Impressive on the Lake Stage, although I only caught some of her set, was Alice Gold. She was due to play EOTR 2010 some weeks later, and was therefore on my want-to-hear list, but had to cancel at shortly before the event and this is yet another reason for changes of plan. The timing is now however good - her début album Seven Rainbows is released in the UK on Monday, 4 July and it is on my list of New Music 2011 that I want.

As far as I know she is not appearing at any of the festivals to which I am going this summer. The counterpoise is that there are artists, about whom I currently know nothing at all, that are. That actually matters more.

If you are going to Truck Festival 2011 then there is a very useful site, that acts as planner and clash-alert, that I found on Wednesday. More on that, and some first thoughts on the artists that I particularly wish to see there, very soon.

New Music 2011 goes Americana again.

2011-06-29T20:34:00.019Z

This is something that is too good not to mention straight away.

July 19 is the US release date for Stranger Me, the third studio album from Memphis, TN based singer songwriter Amy LaVere. It is, as were the preceeding ones, released by independent label Archer Records.

I have, quite literally, only just found out about it and currently know nothing more. I shall be equally surprised and disappointed if it has not been worth the wait since Anchors and Anvils (2008) and the amazing Died Of Love EP (2009). I'll add more, and relevant links, asap but for now I just wanted to share the excitement!
It will be available, at least in the US, on vinyl too. Count me as being on-board. UK CD & d/l date is slated as July 4 and the track listing is as follows:

You Can't Keep Me
Red Banks
A Great Divide
Often Happens
Lucky Boy
Tricky Heart
Stranger Me
Candle Mambo
Cry My Eyes Out
Let Yourself Go (Come on)

The album is produced by Craig Silvey whose recent production credits include 'The Suburbs' - Arcade Fire (2010) and 'Suck It And See' - Arctic Monkeys (2011).

Summer - Music, mud, cider and...

2011-06-27T21:34:00.006Z

I hope that all of you who were at Glastonbury have now got home safely with memories that will last a lifetime - in the best possible way. Tired no doubt and with post-festival blues quite likely. It's not mud, certainly not the cider, that is causing the withdrawal symptoms - it is the music. I watched/listened to as much of Glastonbury as I could remotely and I must say I did think that I wished I was there more than once and not for the most part because of the Pyramid stage headline acts. In many ways I'm quite certain that I could have very happily spent the whole weekend at the medium and small stages poking around for music less well known.
I wasn't there and it is not the same, so that is just theory, but I do know that there are plenty more festivals to come this summer. I shall be at some and for many of them there are still tickets available. They say 'hair of the dog' is the best cure for a hangover, or at least it postpones it somewhat.

I'm now thinking about my priorities; those acts that I most want to see from amongst the long list of available options. I think I should start with Latitude 2011, as it is now only 2½ weeks away (tickets are still available as of today). This is a list in no order of perceived merit and not least because some may clash as I don't know the timings.
One band that will not now be appearing at Latitude (or other overseas gigs) in 2011 is one that I have already mentioned as being amongst those that I was looking forward to: Violens (see announcement). Rest assured that something or someone worthwhile will take their place. At any festival there are things that will not go according to plan - from absentees to lyrics fluffed or simply forgotten - it is all part of the mix.

The first dozen on my must-see list (and I might well change my mind) are here in alphabetical order:

Avi Buffalo
Cat's Eyes
Chapel Club
Ed Sheeran
Iron and Wine
KT Tunstall
Lykke Li
The Bees
The Gentle Good
The National
Trophy Wife
Various Cruelties

This list is also limited to acts that I have never before seen live. There are plenty of others, including many that I have seen live before, that will be in the reckoning too. It is necessary to start the process somewhere but the limiting factor is that, however good the planning and my subsequent discipline might be, I can only ever be in one place at once.

Where The Music Never Stops.

2011-06-26T15:46:00.006Z

Just reposted from Glasto. Live with guests (from the audience) @ 6:30pm.
One of the headline artists at EOTR 2011.

Thoughts on Frome...

2011-06-26T13:27:00.004Z

A weekend spent at home, here in Frome, listening to Glastonbury coverage and considering my priorities for the three festivals that I am attending this summer. It has led me to some other considerations and one is that, several times recently, I have been asked something along the lines of "What is it like to live in Frome?"
I suppose that now I have lived here for over fifteen years I might have some ideas about that.
I had recently changed jobs and was looking to move out of Bristol and buy a place of my own. One lunchtime I needed to visit a branch of the Halifax Building Society (as it then still was) and decided to use the branch the phone book told me was in Frome.
That worked out just fine for two reasons: I found the branch in the Market Place without any problems. In to the bargain I found the town I just knew I wanted to live in. I can't really explain why but is just seemed right and what is more property was still affordable (unlike Bath, for example).

In summary it is big enough to have most things that are an everyday requirement, has a thriving and eclectic selection of independent shops and businesses, and yet it remains small enough never to overwhelm. If you have visited this blog you will already know that it has a thriving arts scene including live music. It is also one of the most remarkable architectural survivors of all English country market towns.
Yes, I am doubtless writing while wearing rose-tinted spectacles - of course it has flaws and a few architectural faux-pas - but more than a few gems. Cheap Street is just one of them.

Cheap Street at 10:30 this Sunday Morning, June 26.

If I can I intend to expand on this theme in the coming weeks and months with pictures of the town and immediate surroundings. If I succeed in that ambition, and there is interest, I might spin it off onto a page of its own.

New Music 2011 - Forthcoming album releases

2011-06-24T15:19:00.022Z

I'll start with three - and all of them by artists appearing at EOTR 2011 - so the possibility of hearing at leasts parts of them played live sooner rather than later is very real and all are also by artists that I have previously seen live at least once, which adds weight to my comment in the previous post.

Lanterns On The Lake - Gracious Tide, Take Me Home
This, the début album, is released by Bella Union Records on September 19, 2011.

The album track 'You're Almost There' is available as a free download. The three self-released CD EPs are all sold out now but you can purchase them as downloads from the band's website. At least some of the songs will no doubt appear on the album in some form too. As well as Truck Festival and EOTR 2011 the band is playing at Deershed 2011 [pre-booked tickets only - there are none available on the day this year] and, if you fancy a visit to the UK's highest pub and regular live music venue, LOTL is hosting a night with special guests at Tan Hill Inn on August 27 - £10 with camping included and no grumpy neighbours except sheep, one or two of which you might well find in the bar and likely in front of the fire (vying for prime space with the cats and dogs), and nothing else other than native wildlife and your fellow campers to disturb!
The band also played at EOTR 2010 - subject to a minor misfortune and ultimately a major victory.

Laura Marling - A Creature I Don't Know
September 12, 2011 is the release date for this, her third LP.

There is to be a limited version that will include 12" LP, CD and other goodies. You have been warned. I can't wait to hear this live. This is the track list:

The Muse
I Was Just A Card
Don't Ask Me Why
Salinas
The Beast
Night After Night
My Friends
Rest In The Bed
Sophia
All My Rage

Beth Jeans Houghton - [title as yet unknown to me]
An album some time in the making. Dodecahedron is promising and again another dab hand (and band) when it comes to live performance.

I'll add this one too, although it is an album already released, while I'm working in the genre of folk-influenced music. Much is written about regional folk music within the UK and Ireland but, in my recall at least, little of it specifically concerns that of Devon. I came across this and have now ordered it unheard, which is something that I like doing as you may well know.

The artists involved suggest goodness. Jim Causley is prime mover here but it also includes others unlikely to risk their well earned reputations on a dubious project. It was released by Wild Goose Records in March of this year.