Linus - Linus, album review

Whilst 'Stealth' album releases are amongst the latest fads to be realised by a record industry that is still pondering how to be relevant in a digital age, as utilised by Beyoncé, Thom Yorke and Drake, it is altogether less newsworthy but certainly a massively interesting concept to behold when even the birthing of a new creative identity flies under everybody's radar.

When a facebook acquaintance made during my time covering Enfield's music scene, nonchalantly posts 'I did a thing' with a link to a 9 track album it was perhaps fortunate that it neatly coincided with some rare downtime and a need to drown out the sounds of the polish builder working on next door.

I'll admit that I know little of Josef Kirby, I know of him as the lead singer of local Djent-Metal rockers UNX and I gave the band a glowing review for their debut EP a little over two years ago, and much like that EP, it is the developing progression of sound and style that creates a truly listenable body of work.

The age old contrasting of light and dark, quiet and loud, are characteristic of the eponymous nine track instrumental album released under the guise of LinuS, and it is the thoughtful crafting of these nine tracks that is wonderfully realised, with the absense of an intimidating vocal presence the entire focus is solely on the music, and whilst there are a handful of whirling maelstroms these are few and far enough between with far more time spent on the building of clearly defined roles for the instruments involved, the instrumentation certainly is not sparse, but simply has had all but the most essential elements stripped away and each detail is given appropriate room to breathe, relying as much on what is not included as what is.

My knowledge of metal's musical touchstones is woefully lacking, I can recognise the required moshpit baiting and neck breaking guitar riffs and driven drum rhythms even if I cannot match them to the tide of bands that have served as inspiration, but I can hear the sci-fi epic nature of Muse's output that has launched them into a stadium filling stratosphere upon ... And Here They Come, In There Thousands, at near 7 minutes long it is buoyed by a lightness and woozy atmospheric that serves it well and it is telling that this has been chosen as the showcasing track when the album loads in the bandcamp player, it is not merely a midway point on the album chronologically but also thematically as it heralds some lengthy movements that retool the albums already accessible take on metal with an added ambience.

It is from this point forward that the debut long-player emboldens itself with magnificent opuses that are wonderfully crafted and bely the fact that they were uploaded on a whim.  

Self-produced using Cubase and with all guitar parts and bass played solely by Josef himself alongside programmed drums, the arrival of Linus in the world, as a musical identity and as an album, may go unnoticed by many but it has certainly not gone unnoticed by me, and I hope future musical endeavours are announced to a wider audience with more than just a four word facebook status.

Hanna's Marines - Be Bolder, single review

It is with a sense of social pride that I will always stand by and support local artists, but when you've seen an undeniable talent blossom over the years and can still be staggered by the depth of their music then you've got to put that down to more than just rooting for the home team.

Such is the case of Hanna Mehmet, front-woman of Hanna's Marines, on the campaign trail to push their new single Be Bolder she drops me a line to see if I'd give it a little push, and why wouldn't I?

But I wasn't prepared to be stopped in my paces by it. I stick it on to give it a listen and see if I can form a few opinions on it, and when Hanna begins singing the track suddenly takes on an intensely intimate quality, the song itself earnestly implores for commitment, for a show of strength, the strong vocal display juxtaposed perfectly against the fragility of the emotion, all of which is echoed through the slow-burning, epic qualities of the music that swells and beats a yearning pulse, truly coming to life to soundtrack the ache of wounded hearts.

It is a gut-wrenching three minutes, delivering voyeuristic chills up my spine with each insatiable listen.

I listened to it through a sense of social duty.

But I love it and continue to listen to it with the most well deserved sense of social pride.

 

Be Bolder is available now via Bandcamp and Soundcloud

Tayalarz vol.5: Lemons Rubik

so far, the emphasis of the Tayalarz mixtapes has been discovery, finding new artists and new music, but as is traditional of us muso types, as one year ends and another begins, we like to look back over what has shaped the previous 12 months

and so to put a Tayalarz spin on things, the January mixtape has tracked down unique versions of songs from some of the biggest artists of 2013, all available to download for free via various blogs and such

as always, the following tracklisting provides all of the appropriate links needed to garner these tracks from their sources and for the second month Ted Joyce has provided the wonderful artwork yet again

1.  Jay-Z - Tom Ford (Crizzly remix) (available via Music Ninja)
2.  Lordes - Royals (La Felix Remix)
3.  Katy Perry - Roar (Brillz radio edit) (available via The Music Ninja)
4.  Kanye West - Black Skinheads (Donovans Rewerk) (available via Nerdy Frames)
5.  Justin Timberlake - Suit and Tie (A Few Thangs Rmx) (via Mad Decent)
6.  James Blake - Retrograde (Minorstep remix) (available via Hilly Dilly)
7.  Arctic Monkeys - Just Hold On We're Going Home (Drake cover) 
           (available via We All Want Someone To Shout For)
8.  Haim - Let Me Go (Ancient Mermaids Remix) (available via Hilly Dilly)
9.  Silver Swans - Wrecking Ball (Miley Cyrus cover) (available via Indie Shuffle)
10. Daft Punk - Lose Yourself to Dance (La Felix Remix) (available via Acid Stag)
11. Robin Thicke - Give it to You (Trippy Turtle Remix) (available via Pigeons and Planes)
12. Angel Haze - Same Love (Macklemore and Ryan Lewis cover) (available via Brooklyn Vegan)

In the tracklisting above are links to the artist's bandcamp/soundcloud/website if you click on their name, and clicking on the track name or blog link will direct you to where I originally encountered their music, good luck hunting it all down...   
and shortly the Tayalarz series will be looking ahead at the artists others have been touting big things for in 2014 along with a few of our own personal discoveries

in conversation with Malanda J. Poetry

after catching up with Ciaran Lavery, we thought it would be a good idea to regularly catch up with a number of artists featured on our Tayalarz mixtapes as a further way of introducing new artists and new music, by delving into their minds and getting them to speak to us after we've let the music speak for itself

and so, this time around we chat with Malanda J. Poetry...

to open the november mixtape we was looking for a strong spoken word piece and was completely floored by 'Story She Never Told', presumably your writing comes from a deeply personal place? 

yes, my writing is sacred to me. very personal, as a writer or a person who simply appreciates language, emotion is not foreign and it finds home in almost everything i experience and because of that, i have to pay homage and cater to things i feel that most people can quickly get over. it’s not like that for me. writing pays respect to my internal, it’s a reflection of what my insides would look like if cut open out of curiosity.

the album it is taken from 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' is made with a similar template, is this the first time you have combined words with music? 

not the first time, but certainly the first time i felt comfortable with hearing my voice tracing back to my ears. this time it felt right.

I love how the innocent 'music box' style accompaniment to 'Story She Never Told' is juxtaposed with a truly tragic story, was this an intentional set-up? who came up with this idea?

‘story she never told’ was extremely difficult to lay out, it was too honest, too raw and very personal. i wouldn’t call any of it a ‘set-up’ but ‘serendipity’ would be the right word to describe how it all came alive. just went with gut feeling, i didn’t really plan it much. it was all emotion.

the internet can provide a wealth of music and information, yet aside from the music on bandcamp and a few links, you remain fairly elusive, would you share a brief bio with us now to fill us in? 

i find pleasure in being able to move around and not get stuck. and having found the ability to remain a mystery to even those who’ve fallen in love with my writing or voice. in me being the complete opposite of stagnant is where i find my superpower. it’s easier for me to navigate through inspirations without outside noise. my internal is my sacred place to go. here’s my process: i get inspired, i create, i finish, i make my peace and move on to the next thing. i never stay in one place (mentally) long enough for anybody to figure me out so it’s only right that i keep up with my thoughts. it’s easier.

at the time of writing my questions, 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' was your only release, and 'Many Faces Of Her' dropped in early December just before I got in touch, do you see a change in yourself or the way you work in the year and a half between the two releases?

growth is for certain, immediately after i finished ‘many faces of her’ i took my mind back to ‘a series of unfortunate events’ and imagined what my younger self felt at the time to even write a project with such a title. my emotions were all over the place, but with my new project i found a better way to channel my internal, still raw, but more settled. there’s a lot more to talk about but…let’s see what time reveals.

and what are your future plans, are there to be any further musical projects from yourself? 

hopefully, if the future is in sync i hope to someday create more projects that are more potent.

we've been compiling mixtapes for three months now to reflect the ever colder seasons, taking in folk elements, chillwave and obviously spoken word and poetry, when was the last time you made a mix for somebody and what did it include? 

i host an event called ‘poetic justice open-mic’ and i compile the music to create the ‘feel’ for the environment and the chill zone i try to promote. the mix includes various artists from Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Wale, Big Krit. Iman Omari, Jhene Aiko, Drake, Dom Kennedy and the list goes on. it’s a mix of ‘feel-good’ songs.

aside from yourself, we also featured a spoken word piece by Kevlar, in the spirit of discovery that our mixtapes were made in, are there any artists you'd suggest we should check out for ourselves?

at the moment, nothing crosses my mind but there’s a number of great artists out there just keep your ears out and open. peace and love.


a massive thank you to Malanda J. Poetry for taking the time to answer our questions

and to stay up to date, be sure to check out Malanda on twitter, tumblr and youtube

Tayalarz vol.4: Moneke Sorrow

and so, December brings the year to a close

and with it comes the last Tayalarz mixtape of 2013

I must admit that the musical journey we shall be taking together in this last month of the year is possibly a journey that will take you deep into the depths of the human soul, yet is a treacherous and unrelenting path to take 

It starts as many of my December compiled mixtapes do, with a rather folky toe-warmer of a track, best enjoyed by a fireside in a comfy chair with a large whisky, but don't forget, that it is a cold world out there

a cold world reflected in a series of uncompromising beat driven tracks that carry the harsh nature of a bitter northerly wind as it cuts through you to your bone, chilling your insides, so hunker down, tune in and chill out to the latest monthly mixtape

as with all previous mixtapes, these tracks have all been sourced for free, either via bandcamps, blogs or facebook, and the track listing below tells you exactly where I handpicked these gems from, and joining the Tayalarz family for the next three months is cover designer, Ted Joyce, gracing our mixes with his talents

1.  Vikesh Kapoor - Bottom of the Ladder (available via Mad Mackerel)
2.  Ghost and Gale - Wicked Heart (available via Turntable Kitchen)
3.  The Casket Girls - Same Side (available via Turntable Kitchen)
4.  SZA - ICE.MOON (available via Consequence of Sound)
5.  Justin Bieber - Hold Tight (Adam Snow Late Night Edit) (available via Ear Buddy)
6.  Tabloid - Voyeur (available via Little Indie Blogs)
7.  Moon Bounce - Marvellous Beast (available via The Key)
8.  Wiley - Born in the Cold (Mr Mitch remix) (available at Surviving The Golden Age)
9.  Keenya - Behind Doors (Winter Son's Helpless Room Remix) (available via Acid Ted)
10. Tasseomancy - Heavy Sleep (Maya Postepski Remix) (available via I Vacation In Your Hell)
11. King Krule -Cementality (8pm remix) (available via Winnie Cooper)
12. Federico Aubele - Somewhere Else feat. Melody Gardot (available via KEXP)

In the tracklisting above are links to the artist's bandcamp/soundcloud/website if you click on their name, and clicking on the track name or blog link will direct you to where I originally encountered their music, good luck hunting it all down...

Tayalarz: The Fanfaronade of Guido

Welcome back to the third in our recently established series of Tayalarz mixtapes.

For November's instalment, a slightly different approach has been taken, for both Volumes 1 and 2, the tracks were sourced exclusively via popular blog aggregator, hype machine, searching for words that reflect the particular time of season, and hunting down recommended tracks via blog posts.

This time around i decided to sniff out the good stuff myself, heading straight to bandcamp in order to siphon another 12 tracks that the artists themselves have made available for absolutely zilch, or on a pay-what-you-like basis.

Prior to compiling this mixtape, i had not heard of any of the artists featured, and i hope that their inclusion here will help to shed a little more light on their cause, and yet again i have been overwhelmed with the end product that plays as a complete musical journey from start to finish and back round again.

And i must admit, that in the course of compiling this labour of love, i think i may have crafted the best mixtape in the series so far...

Opening with an astonishingly heartfelt and bereft piece of spoken word,  Malanda J. Poetry sets the tone for a bleak wintery soundscape that shrugs off the joyful summer frivolities and yearns to nestle by the fire in your soul, a thoroughly modern, down-tempo journey across oceans and genres, embracing hip-hop, folk, poetry, hypnotic beats and downright experimental sound collages that may prove conducive to hibernation should you wish to wait out the cold weather until spring.

And since this has felt so wonderfully thematic as a whole, i am also looking to share a unique vision with you in the near future, with previous volumes, i have reworked the tracks so that they run into each other in one cohesive long mix, mostly for my own ends, however, Volume 3 leant itself to this practice so well that it seemed emphatically absurd not to share it with you.

I shall allow you to track down the components of this mixtape and discover the artist involved yourself before gracing your ears with the definitive article, and conjoined version of previous volumes will also present themselves at such time.

but for now, wrap up warm, pour a soothing dram of whisky and dive into November's handpicked selections.

1.  Malanda J. Poetry - Story She Never Told

2.  Ivan Scutt - Potato Waffles

3.  Kevlar - Ebony Queen

4.  xXxAlExBaLsOnxXx - Chillwave8

5.  The Implicit Order - Money Kills

6.  Lotus - Atlas Shrugged

7.  Lafa Taylor - Almost Perfect

8.  Ciao Lucifer - Walk To Say Goodbye

9.  Karl Verkade - Laid Down All Over

10. JT ,SELENA an ANDRIA - dont FADE away

11. Shak - Dmnds

12. The Implicit Order - On Sundays They Went To Church

In the tracklisting above are links to the artist's bandcamp/soundcloud/website if you click on their name, and clicking on the track name or blog link will take you directly to the track in question, once again, artwork for this volume was provided by Ian Byford, good luck hunting it all down...

in conversation with Ciaran Lavery

The main aim when starting the Tayalarz mix series was to create a cohesive compilation of music that is currently up for grabs and won't cost a penny to source, offering a little guidance as we pull together a playlist to save you the hard work.

Yet, as we have been putting the finishing touches to November's instalment, Volume 2 from last month has still been on heavy rotation and one artist's efforts in particular have stood out and caused persistent earworms.

So we caught up with Ciaran Lavery to discuss cover versions, musical discoveries and to further spotlight a singer/songwriter that we feel fortunate to have found in the process of plucking ripe mp3s from the unfathomably large world wide web.

my approach to this mixtape in particular was to simply search hype machine for particular words or phrases and see where it would take me, i came across yourself after searching for 'killer', influenced by halloween that was right around the corner and finding your version of Psycho Killer, what is the strangest way or place you have stumbled across music that has truly impressed you?

I most usually find my music on amazon, I have been doing that for years. I like that feeling of stumbling across something new to my ears, for a brief period it feels like I'm the only one in the world who knows about them, then when I research further I tend to find I'm the last to know and it takes that magic feeling away. If I had to say the most random though it would maybe have to be finding a Grateful Dead LP inside a Wu Tang Clan CD case..you couldn't make that up

were there any cover versions that didnt make the cut, or that you wanted to make work but couldn't find a way?

I had originally tried to re-work just random covers of all decades but it just so happened to work out that the most appropriate were in and around the same time. I think around that time I had demoed some Lykke Li and New Order but they never made it to studio




i have only discovered you recently, but your debut album was released in march of this year, what has the reaction been to it so far?

The album was such a great thing to make just on a personal level. I have read some really nice things from people I've always respected in the music world who seemed to think it was quite special, and I still randomly get people coming up to me and telling me how much they enjoy listening to it. The other day I heard how someone has listened to the album for a straight week - that's kind of mind-blowing. At the end of the day when I finished recording and the day it was released it's no longer mine anymore, but rather it belongs to whoever bought or downloaded or copied it. At the same time I didn't expect it to be welcomed in with open arms by all types of music lovers, it can be a very personal album. In other words it's never going to be played at a party, unless the idea is to clear the place

presumably the Covers EP is a stopgap between the album and your next full length project or release of original material, what plans are you developing right now and when will we next hear the fruit of your labours?

I think it's pretty typical of songwriters to always be writing and scheming some sort of plans and I'm no different. I have a lot of songs that I've been test driving at gigs over the past while and initial plans to record again are in place so I'm excited about that. I would never want to go in and record the same sounding record so the covers EP was important for me to get away from a sound I could have been pigeonholed with and I intend to do the same when it comes to recording my new material

any plans for a christmas single perhaps? get it right and you could see those Noddy Holder style royalties rolling in each year... 

No, no - I think it's hard to beat Noddy Holder's effort. Christmas singles can be really hit or miss these days, it's not like the 80s when there were so many good songs out every year competing. When you think of those compilation CD's at Christmas time, a hell of a lot of the good stuff is based in that decade. There will never be another Wizard or Slade single, which is sad. At least Christmas jumpers are back..it's a step in the right direction

do you have a favourite cover version? 

That's a tough one because there are so many and probably a lot that I have yet to hear but based on the knowledge of them that I have I would have to say it's a toss up between Bon Iver's version of 'Love More' originally by Sharon Van Etten and Rage Against The Machine's take on 'The Ghost of Tom Joad' by Bruce Springsteen



what was it that drew you to record those songs featured on 'Other People Wrote These'?

It was a project I had wanted to do for a long period, but the chance never really reared its head until maybe a few weeks before I went in to record the tracks. One day I said to myself "ok, it's time to do this for real" and that was that. The whole process was like that really. There was no massive time lapse between any part of the process, the whole thing was started and finished inside three days. I wouldn't have it any other way. The songs weren't particularly personal to me before the process, but I knew that when selecting them I wanted to have the room to almost reshape them, and these songs just seemed to lend themselves to the process best. I also felt it important to break down any boundaries on song selection that may have been there based on my own self written material

Our mixtapes so far have skirted between down tempo beats, trap music, folk, dubstep and a few other genres besides, when was the last time you compiled a mixtape and what was on it?

Ah god, I'm not entirely sure. I used to help compose travel CDs that ranged from the most outrageous, to the cheesy. But I guess a mixtape..it would have been a long time ago. I was actually clearing out in the attic the other day and I found a cassette tape, it got me thinking about mixtapes and how much effort went into making them. Maybe one day I'll make one real soon just to say I did it and feel nostalgic again

and in the spirit of discovering new music, we think that you should perhaps check out Benin City and what they have been doing recently, who would you suggest we take a listen to that is deserving of the exposure right now?

In no particular order check out The Emerald Armada, Joshua Burnside and Ian O'Doherty - each amazing in their own right






a massive thank you to Ciaran Lavery for taking the time to answer our questions

and to stay up to date, be sure to follow Ciaran on Twitter and Facebook

New Mixtape Project: Tayalarz vol.1: The Queen of Sheba (september 2013)

and how has your music blogging experience been recently?

certainly from myself, you will have had features and opinions on new artists and albums, some of whom i sincerely hope you have taken a shine to.

but one of my favourite ways of discovering and sharing music is via the art-form that is the humble mixtape.

whilst i am buzzing about various other blogs looking for new and exciting music in much the same way that a bee collects pollen, occasionally these odd tracks from here there and everywhere haphazardly join my massive i-tunes library, and are promptly forgotten about until a shuffle throws up a track that could be months or could be years old.

but those special tracks, those chosen ones, those are the ones that find company within a playlist or a mixtape, a coherent hour or so of music that encompass my new finds and my new passions.

they live on my i-pod, sometimes i'll burn a copy for my girlfriends car.

but why not share it further...

and so my new mixtape series begins

all tracks included have been sourced via music blogs found on hype machine, and all tracks have been made available by the stated blog or by the artist themselves

since the purpose of this is discovery, i have provided links to the blogs and the relavent post, so you yourself can compile the same mixtape in a type of digitally based scavenger hunt... sharing a little love for blogs and for new artists that i find along the way

September's mixtape is the sound of the last embers of Summer, bright evenings drawing to a close, the first glimpses of winter waiting around the corner and catching you unaware on a chilly morning, shocking you into digging out the warmer layers and sticking the heating on when yesterday you was parading around in shorts still.

It is the sound of repressed chill wave and dub beats, fidgetting dance, block party bangers, multicultural electicness and more besides, taking you on a journey that reflects the time of year and my current tastes.

Massive love to the blogs that have expanded my musical horizons so far, and thanks to Ian Byford who shall be providing the artwork for the first three mixtapes in this new series.


1. Bear Mountain - Congo (available via The Morning After)
2. Joor Nith - Going Home (available via acid ted)
3. mvnners - we stay in, it rains all night (available via deepmuzik)
4. Dickystixxx - Make Me Feel Better (available via Caveman Sound)
5. Iamnobodi - Maputo Dance (available via Spread The Word 96')
6. Sidi Touri - Bon Koum (available via Draw Us Lines)
7. Psapp - Everything Belongs To The Sun (available via Burl Veneer Music)
8. The Gremlins and Primal - Criminal Scum (THE GREMLINS GOT FED AFTER MIDNIGHT VIP) (available via Bwomp! Beats)
9. DJ Snake x Yellow Claw x Spanker - Slow Down (available via Dani Deahl)
10. J.Nolan - Coming Down (Crash The Internet) (available via Word Is Bond)
11. Old Haunt - Ghost Town (available via Wake The Deaf)
12. Yoofs - Hazy dayz (available via Hearing Gold)


In the tracklisting above are links to the artist's bandcamp/soundcloud/website if you click on their name, and clicking on the track name or blog link will direct you to where I originally encountered their music, good luck hunting it all down...





And keep an eye out for Octobers instalment reflecting the darker time of year.

Benin City - Fires In The Park

Music and poetry collide spectacularly in a kaleidoscopic array on this debut album from trio Benin City.

And is is hard to know where to start singing the praises of Fires In The Park, so why not start at the start with opening track, People Will Say, a mid-tempo moody beast that lurches along with a loose jazz fusion groove, more than adequately taking the weight of the heavily thought through vocal delivery.

It is this enchanting way with words that provides just one of a handful of focal points on this release, taking the jam-packed nature of rap, which when used properly can say so much, and slowing it down to an almost spoken word pace that still manages to ride along with the music, and certainly, the comfortable pace gives the words room to hang in the air, ripe for picking, and almost every listen provides me a new favourite couplet or another line that I can relate directly to my own life.

Another plus point that works in the albums favour is the vastness of musical skills that are flexed across an everchanging soundscape, where the first track lurches, the second one bounces, fuelled by a driven pulse that grows into a full on electro-samba, Faithless quickly demonstrates Benin City's capabilities, and across just two songs they have grabbed my attention and refuse to let go.

The beautiful lament of Wha Gwan from which the album takes its title is a fragile and emotional plea that is as uplifting as it is heartbreaking, tugging at heart strings as it builds, and then Pencils drops with a slow bass walk that pulls us through a vitriolic vocal performance that is virtually spat straight into your face, switching from raised spirits to an almost confrontational throwdown .in a mere heartbeat.

This is surely why Benin City are ones to watch, and ones to watch closely, ones to study with great intent... because they are worthy of the attention.

I've only waxed lyrical about four tracks so far from a thirteen track album, and already I have said more than I ever usually find to say about almost any act I have had the fortune to review.

I could seriously continue breaking down the album into bite-sized chunks, but it is the full scope of this band that make them so appealing, for those yet to be turned onto Benin City, the shades of Wretch 32 colluding with Saul Williams should provide an ample jumping on point for both hipsters and mainstream hip-hoppers, whilst the musical diversity shown by Crystal Fighters and Faithless (the band, rather than the aforementioned track) should point you roughly in the right direction of an act that squirms against generic pigeon-holing.

And again we stumble upon another focal point, for Fires In The Park can simply be listened to, and enjoyed, or it can be voraciously consumed, taking the time to pick over the enjoyable experimentation of the band's productions, richly layered and magically uncompromising in its subtle nuances of strange effects and distortions that bleed faultlessly into the vaster picture, hiding in plain sight and demanding to be discovered.

Music and poetry colliding, that just doesn't do Benin City any justice at all, in fact it is almost demeaning to boil such complex tapestries of sound down to two simple specifics.

Those that merely read this review won't understand, and music and poetry colliding will be all they take away from this, but I'm hoping that it incites further investigation and that Fires In The Park will invite further word of mouth reactions in those curious enough to dig deeper.

E.m.m.a: Blue Gardens

As an 80s baby, the 16 and 8-bit noises of old consoles and gameboys will always tug at my heart strings, wrestling me from this interconnected world and taking me back to a time when the Tetris end screen figured pretty highly into my life goals.

Enter E.m.m.a, wielding a debut album that swings wildly for my memories, taking swipes at my past both distant and more recent, Kirby's Dreamhouse and Streets of Rage are mashed up with the pirate radio stations that used to blast out of our 6th form common room and the garage nights where a friend of a friend that owned their own decks and a boxful of vinyls would provide the gateway drug to real going out when we'd finally all turn 18.

Chuck in some Notting Hill carnival vibes for good measure and a healthy dose of Burial style dubstep and that pretty much sums up the listening experience, an experience that feels tailor made to my own personal tastes. Whilst the experimentation with chip-tune may be nothing original, the way it is presented here certainly feels different, atmospheric yet edgy, a balance of light and dark, dreamy soundscapes and devastating bass.

And I doubt I could tire of it, seemingly fresh and yet overwhelmingly nostalgic, for me at least, those that haven't revelled in a fondness for clubbing and late 80s/early 90s gaming may not understand the virtues I am extolling, but others of my generation will surely find this to be a culturally rich sonic masterpiece.

Matthew Herbert: The End of Silence

It is entirely possible that The End Of Silence is not music.

And under this reasoning, it is probable that this is not a review.

This is a war report.

Live from the centre of the conflict here in Libya, imagine the broadcaster, facing, talking to the camera, explaining the situation, and the forces both for Gadafi and opposed, and imagine the moment of horror caught on camera, imagine the shock and the surprise as a bomb is dropped from a pro-Gadafi aircraft.

And now imagine that same moment, imagine reliving it over and over again.

Imagine that you don't have to imagine.

Because the new project from Matthew Herbert is a sound sample of an attack in 2011, a simple 10 second clip repeated over and over in a unique fashion, it has been pulled apart, stretched, crunched, and who knows what else Herbert has done to it, but once he was finished, he turned it over to his four piece band who, somehow, 'play' that 10 second recorded by photographer Sebastian Meyer for 40 minutes.

The fact that more time must be spent explaining this release than can be spent actually reviewing it is part of The End Of Silence's subjective nature as a piece of art, for myself, I found the listening experience to be immersive and harrowing, as ambient sound plays out across three parts, each time building an atmospheric and entrancing groove, and each time I'm anticipating the bomb drop, anticipating the screech and the horror and the noise.

And then it's gone.

But the fact that it will be repeated, the fact that it could happen again at anytime, it means that this goes beyond music, it is art, it makes you feel, makes you feel fear, makes you wonder if this is what life in a war zone must feel like.

Not everyone will feel the same way, not everyone will like this.

And that is truly art.

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Return of The Bush: Live Review

London's Astoria, New York's CBGB, Manchester's Hacienda, Liverpool's Cavern Club and the Bush Hill Park Tavern....

Those living outside of the North London borough of Enfield may have possibly been unaware that the ornate old building that looms large near the tucked away Bush Hill Park rail station holds just as much cultural significance to local music fans as the aforementioned legendary venues do to the rest of the world at large.

Despite not quite carrying the same pedigree as more well known sweat boxes, it is the sporadic and erratic timing of the gigs held in the usually serene boozer's function room that has made this place a firm favourite of my home town.

Last weekend saw The Return Of The Bush ushering in a new age for the Enfield music scene, as familiar faces from familiar bands that themselves were no strangers to this back-room's charms took to the stage in new incarnations, gathering under one roof and kicking to the curb rumours that our beloved scene had faltered and fallen for good.

The vibrancy and diversity of musical tribes converged in unity as a sliding scale of genres was represented over the course of just one evening, from the opening mod-influenced indie rockers Decoy Jet, through the psychedelia-laced Four Sheets To The Wind and the unstoppable funk of Deep Seed. Whilst those that prefer the heavier side of life witnessed the debut gig of Building The Songbird tackling atmospheric post-hardcore, the last ever performance from metallers Red Button Exit, who bowed out in style with a 'Wall of Death' mosh pit and headliners Hands Of A Saviour, who were left to cap the evening off by hitting the Bush with the force of a ten-tonne truck.



Whilst other towns and other venues may boast more consistent musical programmes, it has been the impromptu planning and long absences that makes every small gig held at The Bush feel like an event, with local bands clamouring to get involved, and the punters treating these rare musical outings in our little corner of North London as joyous celebrations, supporting our friends and peers and not having too far to travel home afterwards.

And for now, the scene feels revived, with new bands bearing the promise of carrying Enfield's musical legacy further forward, and loose lips swearing that it won't be too long until we see the Bush heaving, sweating and singing again.

Scrimshire - Bight

From the very first warm tones, my mind moves me to think of the needle dropping on a dusted off record, from the vocals I picture hips swaying seductively alone on an empty dancefloor of a basement venue, and the slowed down DnB style breakdown of the chorus and a creeping electro synth bring this retro-tinged slow-burner bang up to date.

Scrimshire's third album certainly has a devastatingly fresh sounding first impression within lead track Emperor, neatly unfolding into the driven electronica of Convergent, beautifully voiced by the artist himself and with the instrumental melodic shuffle of No More, Bight's place in my list of 'overlooked artists and albums that I shall harp on to everyone about' is ascertained.

As the album progresses and takes shape across the full forty five minutes, the talent of Scrimshire should be apparent to anyone whose ears are lucky enough to be graced by these hybrid dance-soul nuggets, for those less informed, you could be led to believe that what was playing was a compilation album, as loosely connected styles fill out the running time, topped off with a small smattering of alternating vocalists amongst the instrumentals.

The result is perhaps something akin to Fatboy Slim if perhaps his Big Beats weren't so big, the lightly buoyant nature of the albums first half making the tracks as accessible as Norman Cook's without the pop-aimed bravado of the Brighton based DJ's usual productions, instead the crate-digging sound is a much more subtle beast that takes its cues from jazz fusion, soul and funk.

Colliding and colluding styles mean that the album merits a full run through every single time, with each listen opening up and emphasising a new nuance of sound, and the latter part of the album slows the tempo and vaults at a 21st century update of Pink Floyd or two, atmospheric prog-leanings intertwining with a dub-infused time signature to create blissfully modern soundscapes.

All of my showboating is for nothing if you don't experience Bight for yourself, and it should not just be essential listening for music fans but also for music creatives, displaying how an innovative and balanced approach to mining the past can be brought right up to date for today's discerning audiences.

UNX - Divide By Zero

I have never claimed to be, and likely never will be, a true connoisseur of metal music.

I fail to find the subtleties that are inherent in lurching, monster riffs and screamo vocals, yet when UNX, an Enfield band that I have witnessed the very earliest moments of, approach me to cast an ear over their debut EP, then I am overjoyed to have their raucous machinations bellowing out at me from my iTunes.

The brief intro that opens proceedings is the calm before the storm, a slow atmospheric build that precedes an EP of unrelenting intensity that once deciphered and decoded reveals an internal anguish and sense of alienation that has surely fuelled angry young men across the ages and is befitting of a vocal delivery that is akin to primal scream therapy and music that exists as a pure form of raw expressionism, a release of pent up energy and suppressed aggression.

Consisting of three full length tracks, and further buoyed by three other tracks of audio diversions, Divide By Zero clocks in at under thirteen minutes, hardly out staying its welcome, and is rounded out by UNX's crowning achievement, I Think Therefore I Am.

Bringing itself to a natural conclusion, the EP closer feels like what the band have been working towards. Lyrically, it is the strongest and most memorable track on the release, taking thematical threads that have run through earlier tracks, Severance and Incision, yet it feels musically more progressive than those tracks that have come before it, with epic chiming guitars ringing out, whilst incorporating a woozy and unsettling use of experimental sampling.

As the first chapter in the UNX story closes, I hope that this is a prelude of things to come, encompassing more diverse styles into the established heavy rock template and providing Enfield's proud lineage of metal bands with a brand new standard bearer as it marches ever onwards.

Frankie Machine

With over a thousand songs being carried around in your pocket, it is astonishing to think that it could still be difficult to find music to suit your mood, yet, quite simply, all this choice can be rather confounding.

And so my story begins on a rather dull January morning, leaving the house and contemplating the working day and how long it is until my next day off, I need something calming, serene, distracting, and I need it now.

I scroll past bands I love, bands I'm bored of, and artists that just don't seem right for right now, and I settle upon the name Frankie Machine.

I remember very little of why, but I remember I liked it, so I choose this, and after a brief offbeat intro, I am reminded of what held so much appeal as the sound of Nineteen Seventy Three is channeled directly into my ears.

A simple acoustic track that I have missed so much that I play it twice in a row, and as I tune into the remainder of the EP from whence it originated, I wonder how I ever came across this in the first place, what website or blog must have convinced me to right-click and save as, and a most audacious thought of all, how, in this highly informed digital age, do I still have no idea who Frankie Machine is.

I literally know nothing at all about him, other than his name, and due to a couple of skits on the EP, that he had been played on radio 1 by John Peel in the era in which emails were being used by the late fan-favourite presenter.

And you know what? I actually kind of like it that way.

it would take next to no effort to google the name, possibly finding more info than I would need to know, but I won't, cos I actually like having nothing more than my own admiration of a few pieces of music to satisfy me in this age where almost everything is shared, re-posted and ubiquitously linked to facebook.


edit:  since it has always been my intention to share music, i did precocously approach google with caution, purely with the sole intention of letting you hear what i heard

i also believe that the whole EP can also still be downloaded, although i didn't hang around to find out

Am I destroying the music industry?

within a matter of hours I have sourced around two and a half hours worth of music from blogs and then set about creating a cohesive playlist for burning onto CD (if only my girlfriend's car still had a CD player instead of the current tape deck and slim choice of Phil Collins, Chris De Burgh and Disney cassettes).

It is an 80 minute masterpiece that runs the gauntlet of folktronica, unexpected cover versions, codeine hip-hop, bootlegs and a smattering of other down-tempo hybrid genres.

and I did not pay a penny for any of it.

this is the strength of the music blog, with it's ability to expose multitudes of people to brand new talent through tidbits and tasters offered up free of charge.

and in this strange no-mans-land that the music industry has found itself in, it is becoming increasingly difficult to tell if this is the right thing to do or not

for all of the success of iTunes, it seems to me that we are still living in the shadow of napster, and the uncertain value of music to many people

ham-fistedly stealing whole albums and back catalogues via torrents still seems wrong to me, and in my old fashioned way, I would much rather pay for a physical product if I feel the music is worth it, yet releases and remixes by smaller artists seem to be worthless

there seems to be a number of reasons for this, firstly may be my placing in the music business as an occasional critic and journalist, unwilling to offer up my opinion on music unless it has been provided to me gratis, and as an unpaid journalist, so should it be... if they want the exposure provided by me, then the music should be my pay-off and my reward.

secondly is the uncertainty of the musical landscape, where some artists and labels have seen the changing tides and decided to swim with the current, providing music for free if it means that artists and songs reach the right blogs and the right people, before crossing over into the paying mainstream, yet how can we be certain which free mp3s have been co-erced and given the blessing by the sanctioned provider, and how many blogs are just towing the line that music is free and effectively stealing from the creator.

and so it is that I seem willing to exchange currency for the upcoming Muse album, a major label release from an already established band, and yet paying for the wares of far smaller artists seems to be somewhat unjustified, as if their art is worth less.

the music business is still clearly in a state of flux, as almighty majors now suffer and new ways and mean of reaching an audience and turning a profit are still being tried and tested in the wake of file-sharing.

so am I getting my own personal views on paying for music the wrong way round?

am I destroying the music industry?

Barbarossa - Butterfly Plague E.P

evocative synths and scattered drum machines breath life into the beautifully delicate Butterfly Plague E.P, creating a perfect example of how to tug on the heart strings with just a few simple concepts, a fragile voice and a little technology.

since catching Barbarossa live at a charity gig late last year and gorging myself on whatever sounds of his the Internet could offer me, I have been eagerly anticipating the release of new material.

a folky nuance on display in previous offerings is hard to shrug off, by no means a bad thing, as it lends the tracks a genuine warmth and earthiness, a certain campfire feeling that draws you in and engages with you on a personal level.

indeed, Temporary and the Stones are both shot through with heartfelt emotion and completed with vocal turns that are so entrancing so as to mark out Barbarossa as a leading light in post-break up anthems, destined to be played on repeat in the bedrooms of the lonely across this land.

and it pains me to say anything against it, but I certainly wish that this release offered up just a little more...

those, like me, that have been waiting for the return of Barbarossa are dreadfully teased with just two brand new tracks, supplemented by a re-recording of 2006's sublime Stones (and an additional remix of the hypnotic title track exclusively for those that still consume their music on vinyl).

so it is that the Butterfly Plague E.P serves as a timely taster of a unique talent, a talent that I would plead effervescently with others to witness live at all costs, and I plead with Barbarossa to grace us with more material pretty sharpish (please).

Misha B

As the years keep progressing, I must admit that with each passing series I am subjected to more and more x-factor than I'd care to admit to.

And even when my viewing is kept to an absolute minimum, the contestants of 2011 are the ones that I had a greater awareness of and as a consequence, actually formed opinions on.

for all my kicking and screaming, there was one episode (and one performance in particular) that silenced my moaning and had me having to pick my jaw backup from off the floor.

Misha B was an absolute revelation to me, and her unique rendition of the already ubiquitous Rolling In The Deep was a thoroughly brave choice, refixing it with her own larger than life interpretation that was far too good to simply stand as just another entry in the UK's largest karaoke competition.



It would have made me happy to have seen her win the whole thing, but to be honest, she was far better than that, she didn't belong there, but it gave her a welcome exposure that it would have been hard to find elsewhere.

Now the time has come for her to throw off the shackles of Simon Cowells talent show albatross and make a name for herself independent of the normal reality tv expectations of drab cover versions.

more recent efforts by ex-X-contestants seem to have wizened up to the fickle music business and far more time and thought are put into post-TV careers.

But Misha B should be the star that outshines the rest of her peers, if she is willing to flaunt her obvious talent and exploit her previous TV notoriety to reach the maximum audience possible, she should live up to my high expectations.
 

Lois and The Love: Live @ The Macbeth

Intimate Hoxton bolthole, The Macbeth, is hosting the second date of a three gig residency by up and coming London band, Lois and The Love, and considering the sizeable crowd that has turned out for the second gig in as many weeks, there surely must be something about this band, whose buzz has been steadily building as they work towards the release of their debut EP later this summer.

Already with a number of London gigs under their belt, the band stepped up their game as they infiltrated the blogosphere in February with single Rabbit Hole, a Juliet Lewis and the Licks-esque romper stomper of a track that certainly kicks out the jams.



So any expectations are definitely delivered on when witnessing Lois and The Love doing their thing live, 'their thing' incidentally is a rock and roll spectacle, shot through with a blues-rock stomp and a down to earth garage band vibe, but it is no wonder that practising in garages or rehearsal rooms couldn't contain them, once you have feasted your eyes on the snake-hipped onstage cavorting of Lois herself.

All of the energy and immediacy of the live performance is heightened as their energetic lead pulses across the stage, yelping and wailing like a woman possessed, and putting in a frenetic vocal performance, and it is this exuberance of self-confidence that the band exudes that makes the atmosphere in a venue this size absolutely electric.

Watching them make short work of the fans assembled today, I recognise a flair that I have seen before, it is the appeal of a new band that you have found, a band you may have simply stumbled upon, but that tick all of the right boxes.

Perhaps others at this gig are experiencing them for the first time after deciding to stick their head into a free gig to see what the fuss is about, or perhaps it will be catching them on one of the smaller stages of a festival over the summer, but whatever the circumstances, I recognise that Lois and The Love deliver a performance that is as enjoyable for the crowd as it is for the band.

And that certainly bodes well for the future.

 

the third and final free gig at The Macbeth is this coming Wednesday 16th May

glassworks review roundup: march

it was last September that I was bemoaning the fact that any activity that was bringing new music my way via glasswerk had all but dried up as I posted the last couple of live reviews

so I finally took it upon myself to knock out a couple of reviews, both of which i have some personal investment in.

first up was the debut EP from a fledgling North London record label, that just so happens to be run by a couple of Enfield lads that I have crossed paths with a number of times, from their time performing together in Those Handsome Animals, and also separately in Retro Crooks and The Waterloos in the golden age of Enfield's live music scene.

but that is all in the past now, and they are now concentrating their efforts on sniffing out new talent as Njord and releasing limited edition cassettes with a lo-fi feel.

Connecticut born solo artist, Gift Lions, has the honour of kicking off their release schedule with 5 tracks that shimmer and glow with a nostalgic warmth, but you better move fast if you want to covet the physical format, as only 100 copies of the cassette release are in existence

Gift Lions review here





the second was a look at the latest single to be released by Akira The Don, who I have never shied away from heaping praise upon.

We Won't Be Broke Forever Baby, has long been a personal favourite of mine, teased out at occasional live performances long before being committed to record, featuring on the sophomore effort, The Life Equation and gaining itself a single release

Akira The Don review here




and with these two recent reviews under my belt I gathered up a bunch of contact details from promo CDs and sent out the feelers to see if anyone out there would like to send some new music my way

and some people did, I was rather disappointed with the bland Burning Shapes, rather more impressed with the subtle hip-hop head-nodder from Niko (which, due to technical difficulties, had to be reposted in April) and also gave the seal of approval to the debut album from film makers and art-collective turned musicians, Breton.

The press release may have been full of hot air in order to push the band's high-brow and artistic nature to anyone that would listen, but when the music was allowed to speak for itself it showed a highly diverse and post-modern collection of songs that may look set to infiltrate the public consciousness via car commercials if any advert executives spot this bands crossover potential, but don't hold that against them

Breton review here