New Music 2014 - Part 7- Hurray For The Riff Raff

Hurray For the Riff Raff has been around for a few years now, with once-itinerant Alynda Segarra at their steady helm. The third LP, Small Town Heroes, has recently been released by ATO Records in the US.

The UK release is the end of March but it is too good to wait for.

I'm expecting that I will see them at a festival in the UK at least once this summer and I can't wait...

Hurray For The Riff Raff live at End of The Road Festival 2012.
   

A track from the new album is 'Blue Ridge Mountain'.

This is another one to watch in 2014.

Rock and Roll Joe

This is a little something for this dark, cold Sunday evening. It's been in my head all day so I decided to let it out...

Joe is every guitar player
Who played it from his heart.
Here's to Joe.
Joe is every funky drummer
Who knew when to stop and start.
Way to go, Joe.
  
And we all bow down to the ones that took us to him
The ones that took us some place where we needed to go
Then we all bow down to the ones that got us through it.
Here's to Rock and Roll Joe.
  
Joe is every bass player
Who played it from his balls.
Here's to Joe (Here's to Joe...)
And Joe is every fiddle player
Who slammed us to the walls.
Way to go, Josephine.
  
And we all bow down to the ones that took us to him
The ones that took us some place where we needed to go
Then we all bow down to the ones that got us through it.
Here's to Rock and Roll Joe.

Joe is every keyboard player
Who played it like he's from the South.
Here's to Joe.
Joe is every sweet horn player
That pressed that thing up to his mouth.
Way to go, Joe.
   
And we all bow down to the ones that took us to him
The ones that took us some place where we needed to go
Then we all bow down to the ones that got us through it.
Here's to Rock and Roll Joe.

Casual Conversations With A Woodpigeon

It is about to appear, I have mentioned this artist and band before, and yet this début EP also remains unknown to most.
Here it is... 'Casual Conversations With A Woodpigeon'.

As album titles go it is, I think, on a par with 'Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose'. It's not a short name, but an unforgettable one, and that matters. It is also a self-released EP, funded using Kickstarter. It is officially launched on March 26...

I'd heard bits and pieces before this point but then saw Cloudi and her band live at the first North Dorset Folk Festival last autumn and was very impressed. Still wondering? Well here they are live at Urban Outfitters, in Southampton, this very afternoon.
  

The second edition of North Dorset Folk Festival has a new venue, Marnhull Village Hall, and will take place on Saturday October 26, 2013.
Tickets go on sale soon. See you there.

2012 In Music - EPs and mini-albums

At first I used to start my annual round-up with this category, so-titled as to avoid pedantic arguments about what strictly constitutes an EP!  Where a mini-album becomes an album is similarly obscure, is it the number of tracks or the overall running time?
It was a genre that I suspected might die out but I'm happy to report that a combination of circumstances has seemingly resulted in rather the opposite. This selection is a bakers' handful of ones that caught my attention during the year and subsequently have found myself listening to repeatedly. Another new development is that I hope to include links to tracks from at least some of the works mentioned.
  
The illustration associated with the first, Craze EP - I Am Harlequin, rather befits the arts-space that the artist seems to inhabit; one where nothing is actually quite what it seems.

I Am Harlequin

My personal favourite is the last track 'Wild One'

The trio of  sisters Haim, with Dash Hutton on percussion, has been cropping up on any number of 'Ones to Watch in 2013' lists in the last month or so. With, I must add, very good reason. Were I to write such a list they would be on mine too. There's a thought; maybe I will.

Earlier this year the band released the Forever EP. As well as the d/l format there was also a very limited UK release on 10" vinyl and this is it.

  
The next artist is the first from this selection that I have actually seen playing live - at Deer Shed Festival 3 back in July though I was aware of Pip Mountjoy somewhat before that - and the first here that generally plays acoustic and solo. This is her first EP - although, at six albeit fairly short songs, it could be a mini-album.  It is available digitally but also on CD - this latter format being an entirely self-released and home-made work of art.
  

Lousiana EP - Pip Mountjoy

Pip Mountjoy at Deer Shed Festival 2012, performing one of the "new" songs.

  

Added 15 December 2012: her second EP, Your Skeleton,  is due out early in 2013 - February, hopefully.

  

This one is also self-released, by Devon-based artist Alice Jemima, and also available on CD as well as download. She is also a huge favourite amongst the writers of the blog Breaking More Waves, which I highly recommend too. Enjoy!
  

  
The following, again available on CD if you are lucky, was probably the first that I knew would be in this list. The good news is that the duo behind it are working towards an LP release of original material in 2013. In the meanwhile check out the 2009 LP One Light Is Gone.
  

Should you be wondering why my version is black and that next to the audio stream is red it is because these too are all hand printed. Mine is red for the track-listing on the reverse and white versions also exist. As of today (1 December) the CD is still available here.

Last, but certainly not least, is an artist who has just completed a pan-European tour, comprising about seventy performances, promoting this EP and also the very recently released début LP 'Under Mountains' (about which in due course).
  

Rachel Sermanni is another artist that I saw live at Deer Shed Festival.

You can get a free download of 'The Fog' (live, acoustic version), one of the four songs on the Black Currents EP, in exchange for your e-mail address, here.

  

Rachel Sermanni, live at Deer Shed Festival, July 2012.

2012 In Music - Albums - Part 1

No real change in presentation here from the last two years; two lists of a dozen albums each and both strictly in order alphabetical by artist. 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 2012.  It is vastly influenced by artists that I have seen live, either this year or somewhat previously, and I make no bones about that fact. Here it is:

• Alabama Shakes - Boys and Girls
• Awna Teixeira - Where The Darkness Goes
• Bex Marshall - The House of Mercy
• Boy - Mutual Friends
• Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog - Draw Dros Y Mynydd
• Ellen and The Escapades - All The Crooked Things
• First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar
• Hurray For The Riff Raff - Watch Out Mama
• Joanne Shaw Taylor - Almost Always Never
• Karine Polwart - Traces
• Phantom Limb - The Pines
• The Tatsmiths - Curiosity Shop
• Trailer Trash Tracys - Ester

Please feel quite 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 sanction the publishing of "anonymous" comments. Comments that are defamatory, offensive or totally irrelevant will not be published.

I don't bite either. I'll attempt to answer questions and comments either in comments of my own in reply or in a more general 'round-up' post.

I intend to post the second of these lists later this coming weekend. I am intending to add links to related content in both the above mentioned posts as soon as I can.  It is my intention to deal with the ever more interesting category of "EPs and mini-albums" in the meanwhile and I'd like to do that as a post complete with such links from the get-go.

EOTR 2012 - Thoughts on new music 2

The reformed Grandaddy and Grizzly Bear were both awesome and some of my friends might have regarded one or other as their own particular highlight of the festival but were I forced to do so, and somebody just posed this question, the highlight of End of The Road Festival 2012 for me was Alabama Shakes. This is, in some ways, a justification for buying an 'early bird' ticket. Just like trusting labels it is a convenient opt in - I know that I can trust the EOTR organizers to put on more bands that I want to see/hear than will actually be possible - and so I already have a ticket for EOTR 2013 (and NDH 2013, too). This means that as the booked artists become known, over the ensuing months, the excitement is purely that of anticipation. When I came to know that EOTR 2012 had Alabama Shakes on the list anticipation started to take full control. I had pre-ordered the début album 'Boys and Girls' on vinyl and at the first opportunity, so I already knew the songs quite well, and then this happened...

Alabama Shakes, the Woods Stage, at about 19:45 on Saturday.
Songs that do not appear on the album were awesome too.

  

This is soul-blues of the of the highest order and they are generous with it too appearing for a second time, on the Big Top Stage on Sunday evening and also various other unadvertised performances. This is another picture from the Woods Stage on Saturday.

Simply astonishing. 

Brittany Howard does have a phenomenal voice on the recording and yet still chooses to wear glasses while performing live, simply out of choice.  It is quite the statement of who she is and this authenticity is at the heart of Alabama Shakes. When heard live that voice makes the vinyl recording sound rather ordinary and, good-as-she-is with guitar and there is no doubt about that either, live the band is tight as hell.
Live music probably doesn't get much better than this but please feel free to prove me wrong.

Summer Festivals 2012 - Deer Shed 3

I recently became aware of the fact there is that a whole lot about my experiences at festivals during the summer of 2012 that I have never mentioned. I think that I shall commence the remedy starting with Deer Shed Festival 3, Baldersby Park, North Yorkshire in mid-July. Before I start on the music the food stalls were amazing. When I find the card, I know it is somewhere just around where I am now, I shall name and fame the stall that sells the best pork pies in the world, ever: Sorry, Melton Mowbray.
I was listening to Simon Raymonde's show on amazingradio.co.uk this evening and it included a live session with, originally Southampton-based, four-piece Pale Seas and they are good even though they have yet to release their first album.

Pale Seas on the '(Far from the) Lake Stage' at Deer Shed Festival 2012.

Things beckon for them in 2013 much as happened a couple of years ago to this band that met at Cardiff University and then discovered that their planned career paths might need a slight rethink.

 Los Campesinos! on the 'Main Stage' at Deer Shed Festival 2012.

This was a band that I had long wanted to see live and one that certainly didn't disappoint. In fact nothing about this festival was a disappointment. It was also phenomenally family friendly so here is a picture or two of that aspect to finish this post.

This was free for kids to decorate before, once complete, it was floated in a pond.

In the main arena, Saturday afternoon.

Lyrics once again - Can't Make It So

It's a long time since I've turned my attention to song lyrics but since someone asked about those of Ellen and The Escapades today I just have to try. Yes I certainly can, but probably not until next week.
  
Oh well, I relented after a fashion but this might have to suffice just for now.  This is the song 'Can't Make It So', from that album - All The Crooked Scenes:
 
It's a no go
Telling you to come home
Saying that you can't go
I'm sorry but I can't make it so.
  
Could I have been there?
My words can make a change
Can my actions now compare?
They know they did you wrong.
  
Its up to me 
Just wait and see
  
You were so close
Now to even let go
Why'd you wanna take me?
I'm sorry but I can't make it so

It's a no go
Telling you to come home
Saying that you can't go
I'm sorry but I can't make it so.

Could I have been there?
My words can make a change
Can my actions now compare?
They from thy did you wrong
  
It's up to me 
Just wait and see
  
Just let me make you happy.
  
Actually, I have now just remembered why I started the whole lyric thing in the first place and it is rather simple - I enjoy doing it.

No Direction Home 2012 - into the unknown

A festival should not be judged on headline acts. It would be a poor way to spend three days were it to involve enduring many hours of tedium in the hope and expectation of ninety minutes of heaven at the end of each. A good festival has strength in depth and, quite possibly, it is the so-called 'lower orders' that serve to define the truly good ones.
Well No Direction Home didn't fail on the former count by any means but, where it triumphed in spades is in the most important aspect of all. That it was a continuous source of angst to decide which act to see at all times everyday...
OK, so all three acts opening the Lake Stage were great.

Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog --- on the Lake Stage, in the pouring rain, Friday lunch-time.

  
I have already mentioned 'Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog', but neither Brighton-based (except when decamped to Lewes!) 'Laish' on Saturday and 'Trembling Bells' on Sunday suffered by comparison.
  
This next pair of pictures are of 'Laish', performing as opening act on the Lake Stage on Saturday. Well, given the second one, you can see exactly what time it is.

   

By Sunday you might have been coming rather concerned about the prospects for 'Trembling Bells'. Well, should that have been the case, you need not have worried one bit.

Even without Will 'Bonny Prince Billy' Oldham, Lavinia Blackwall and her cohort was more than effective in carrying off the tracks from that collaboration as well as all the other albums.

Thoughts of forthcoming UK 2012 Festivals.

I haven't forgotten how to write, and I certainly haven't forgotten how to read or listen either. To follow in the coming weeks are some of my thoughts summarized by the post title and also by this lyric...
  
But who cares what the night watchmen say
The stage has been set for the play.
  
Townes Van Zandt is sadly unable to be there in person, although perhaps still present in spirit. On the other hand and in a similar, but mortal, vein Richard Buckner will be appearing at End Of The Road 2012. If that is something the same event also features a legend of Americana before the term was coined, or at the very least widely understood - Van Dyke Parks. From writing lyrics for The Beach Boys album Smile (he lived to see it released, if not as it was originally intended), as amazingly so did Brian Wilson (although not functional as originally intended), much more recently he conceived much of the arrangement and the production of Joanna Newsom's Ys (2006). In-between times, and amongst many other projects, he recorded and released six albums of his own material.

My First Festival of 2012

This is going to be interesting in, I rather suspect, many ways. It is a new festival for me, indeed new for everyone, as it is the first Frome Folk Festival. It is going to be some weekend...
One aspect (apart from indoor camping, well I will be kinda as I live in Frome anyway) of FFF1 that I'm largely going to be ignoring is the promised 'market' of stalls offering such things at Tarot Reading, aromatherapy and crystal healing (whatever that is - and please don't even try me about the psuedo-science). That is possibly just a little too Glastonbury, even for Frome, but it is a certain hazard within the broad church of 'folk music' so I'll quite happily just let them be. 
Aromatherapy I could countenance - at least in so far as the allure of the conveniently located fish & chip shop in King Street is concerned - and the café in the Cheese and Grain does do rather tempting cooked breakfasts, which up to now I've always resisted.  If it involves any preparation whatsoever on my part then I won't be eating it.  In that sense I have decided it will be just like any other festival - I'm "on holiday" this weekend and looking forward to it all.
  
Tickets for Frome Folk Festival 2013 (FFF2) are now on sale...

New Music 2012 - Part 11 - Rebecca Cant

This is her new song 'Field' performed live at 'Songs From The Shed' this week. To  check out more then visit the above, this was their 171st session, and also Rececca Cant on Facebook and Myspace.

  It is also my first attempt to embed audio/video in 'Thoughts On Music'.

New Music 2012 - Part 10 - Trailer Trash Tracys

Just as a starter, what an awesome band name. It tells of something and nothing in equal measure - leaving you to contemplate the beauty that it promises in complete isolation.

It could be all-out metal, for the band name would suit that, but in fact it isn't. It is actually so 2012 that it hurts in the very best way imaginable. I'm wary of saying what I think is comparable, or indeed influential, except to say this.
I like it. You know what I like in music. The album 'Ester' has it all. It is available on vinyl (Double Six Records) and how could you not want that album artwork on 12"?
When it comes to individual tracks that is just something that will have to wait for now. It is too much to take in one go.
  
Note added February 21, 2012:
Trailer Trash Tracys was today confirmed to be appearing at End Of The Road 2012.