I’m going to be doing a new and unsigned music feature for Jason Moyle when he sits in on The NUA Show on Off The Chart Radio for the next two Saturdays.
Tune into the show from 4-7pm to hear music from great acts like Jonno McCleery, Bear Driver, King Porter Stomp and Poppy and Friends.
First published in the June 2010 issue of Buzz Magazine
Michael Harvey, who will be appearing at this year’s Beyond The Border, is a veteran in the art of spinning a good yarn. He explains how you too can be the envy of any dinner party.
STEP 1: Get inspired
Go to a festival like Beyond The Border, and keep an eye out for other events. There’s a really nice one at Milgi in Cardiff on the third Tuesday of every month. It’s really friendly and includes floor spots from professional and upcoming storytellers.
STEP 2: Develop existing skills
The social world gives you all the storytelling skills you need and if you work with the skills you have you get an original, unique performance. Looking for stories to tell can be a lonely business so it can help to buddy up with someone like minded, starting with collections of folk tales and mythology.
STEP 3: Find a good location
Start at a level that isn’t going to freak you out, amongst friends. Telling stories outdoors is beautiful, and you need a place with character. Informal seating is good too, because if people cuddle up or sit wherever they want then they are much more relaxed and open.
STEP 4: Pretend adults are children
Kids taught me everything I know, but adults can be harder because their faces are more closed and their resting expression can look a bit grumpy. But, if I convince myself that inside there’s an eight-year-old child, and I start telling a story to that child, then their faces soften, and they become more open and responsive.
STEP 5: Work through stage fright
Everyone gets nervous; it’s just that when you get experienced, you just call it excitement. If you feel you’re using the audience, slow down, calm down and rest in the story. Think about the physical sensations – what the story looks like, what it sounds like, what it smells like; a story can be as real as a memory.
First published in the June 2010 issue of Buzz Magazine
“Dark, foreboding and full of menace” is how Jay Thomas describes Neath Ales Black, his favourite of the ales his one man brewery business produces. 34 year old Jay operates out of a secret Neath location and set up the business after being made redundant from his job as a sociology lecturer. The brewery is the first in the area since the Vale of Neath Brewery closed in 1972.
Jay runs the business on his own managing everything from marketing the brand, brewing the beer and bottling up the product, but he says other members of the family still manage to get involved. “My poor retired father can’t keep away and I only have to pay my four and two year olds a couple of jelly beans to clean for me. Don’t tell social services!”
Like many students looking to save a few bob and try some experimentation, Jay started brewing beer while at university as he was fed up with mass marketed, bland lagers and fancied trying something different – and a little stronger.
Premium bottled beers have increased in popularity over the last few years with drinks companies seeing increased profits in this area of the market. Jay puts this down to people becoming savvier about big businesses telling them what to consume. “You wouldn’t go into a restaurant and ask for the most insipid, lowest quality thing on the menu, so why do that when you go to a bar?” he says.
Neath Ales are made lovingly with no additives and are all vegan friendly. Just Welsh water, malted barley, whole hops and yeast are included. The beers are matured for many weeks until they have reached Jay’s high standard and can be found in many shops in Neath, Swansea and the surrounding areas.
Although running a business single-handedly is a challenge, Jay says he is in it for the long haul. “It is an awesome vocation and one into which the true heroes will venture. As for taking on big big biz with their hundreds of millions of pounds advertisings might, bring it on.”
First appeared inthe June 2010 issue of Buzz Magazine
Beyond The Border International Storytelling Festival, St Donats Castle, South Wales
Fri 2-Sun 4 July 2010
Back in the days before the internet, mobile phones and even books, people used to actually talk to each other. When they ran out of gossip about whose sword was bigger than whose, they would recount tales of generations gone by.
The tradition of storytelling still thrives around the world, including a vibrant scene here in Wales. Old myths and legends are retold again and again, sometimes with modern adaptions. Many of these storytellers from across the globe will be gathering in Wales at the UK’s leading storytelling festival Beyond The Border in July. The festival has been running since 1993 and attracts thousands of visitors a year, as well as running a programme taking storytellers into schools and workplaces all over the country.
This year’s festival features over 20 storytellers from as far afield as Canada and Egypt. There is also a strong Welsh connection, including Celtic mythology from the {Mabinogion} which will be retold in words, music and song. Welshman Osian George will be performing with trio Bro Ar Men (Land Of Stone) led by Brittany’s Pol Huellou with Armenian Vasken Solakian. Wales loves nothing more than a good male voice choir, and Beyond The Border is being treated to the Republic of Gerogia’s Mtiebi performing on the Friday of the festival.
The storytelling takes a saucy twist with late night adult-only performances, including stories from Boccaccio’s naughty Decameron and some erotic late night stories about ancient love goddesses Aphrodite and Innana told by Xanthe Graham.
The festival features music from exiles Kotchnak Ensemble, a family of singers from Armenia, now living in Paris who first began making music in 1976. Also performing is Ahmed Muhktar from Iraq who is renowned for his playing of the oud, an instrument similar to the lute. He will perform as part of the Nights In Baghdad programme which includes Egyptian Chirine El Ansary telling the stories from the author of 1001 Arabian Nights, Robert Irwin.
Beyond The Border provides a window on the world past and present and with every yarn festival goers will be transported somewhere different.
First appeared on Never Enough Notes on August 10 2010
Released on March 15 2010 on Sunday Best
The Logic of Chance is a collection of wise words on topics such as ‘Broken’ Britain, domestic violence, love and the perils of writers block for rappers.
Always recognisable and undeniably British, dan le Sac and Scroobius Pip create modern poetry, with an edgy soundtrack, The Streets for a new generation.
The duo have never skirted round issues which can put people off who think that music doesn’t need such obvious social content but it is always refreshing to hear artists that are not afraid to speak their mind. For every fan this may loose them there is probably at least one more that not only enjoys the music, a fast paced mix of electro, hip-hop and drum & bass, but also the viewpoints explored.
One album highpoint: ‘Cauliflower’, is a combination of Scroobius Pip’s spitting South East accent with the sweet and pure voice of US singer Kid A telling the story of a beautiful whirlwind romance with illustrative lyrics such as “still got a cauliflower ears from where her voice first hit me”. Such lyrics are what makes dan le Ssac Vs Scroobius Pip worth a listen, playing on modern references in a poetic way while staying funny and clever.
The duo seem determined to ‘make a difference’ and get through to people but it is hard to see how the kids a lot of it it is aimed at will ever hear these tracks. The Logic of Chance is their second full album release and although they have a lot of respect in certain quarters they are yet to break into the mainstream as is the conundrum that many artists challenging ‘the man’ find. Reach out to as many people as possible while possibly compromising on your music or lyrics or resign yourself to the background until the world is ready. Until then dan le Sac and Scroobius Pip are ready and waiting, discussing a very British state of affairs.
9/10
First appeared on Never Enough Notes on August 7
Released on September 9 2010 on Upset The Rhythm
Gira Gira contains the kind of music that needs to be listened to after years of progressing through ‘relatively hard core music’ fan badges. For those who, like myself, only ever progressed to the hardcore music equivalent of the 25m swim badge this album could be difficult after repeated listening.
There is no denying the enormousness of this record, arranged like a soundtrack Dr Who makers would envy. Every instrument is played to within an inch of its life, with drums pounding prominently all the way through. As the monster awakens with opener ’50-50′ it builds to a ferocity which is futuristic and full of drama, providing a score to a scene where I imagine Drum Eyes stepping off their mighty space ship guns blazing and bullets flying everywhere in slow motion while they look menacingly on.
‘Future Police’ has keyboards that sound like a frightening Nintendo game, an intensity that continues throughout the rest of the album, which although it is only six tracks long does not leave you feeling short changed. Gira Gira is not just pure noise: there is melody, texture and some heavy beats giving a rich variety of sounds including a heavy metal edge on the track ‘Future Yakuza’.
The album is a far cry from the usual franticness of DJ Scotch Egg, the Japanese gabba music producer who heads up this collaborative side project along with members of bands including The Boredoms and Trencher. Gira Gira is straight up angry, psychedelic and slightly scary ear busting tracks, a thirty five minute assault on the senses. The intensity can be too much, but the question is: Can you handle it?
8/10
First appeared on Never Enough Notes on July 16 2010
Live at the Eden Project, Cornwall on July 2010
Eden Sessioners are massive fans of what they know and what they like. But if they’re not sure, they’re more than happy to just have a chat with their mates which is something that Martha Wainwright has had to cotton onto tonight: “I would talk to you but I don’t think I need to, there seems to be a lot of talking going on away” she says wryly.
After a day of sporadic torrential rain, the sun has come out for tonight’s main acts, the first of two sold-out sessions from Paolo Nutini and Martha Wainwright. It is the season finale of an epic set of gigs that has seen acts from Jack Johnson, to Mika, to Doves play in the futuristic Eden Project setting.
Wainwright starts minimally with acoustic tracks including the beautifully executed ‘This Life’. The band then melt on stage for ‘Bleeding All Over You’. There is a tranquillity to Wainwright’s set and although the crowd is chatty they still seems to be listening intently. This gig is part of her ‘Martha Sings Piaf’ UK tour and she plays three of these songs now, full of passion, dedicating one to her mother, Kate McGarrigle, who died at the beginning of this year.
This along with the premature birth of her son Arcangelo has meant that Wainwright has not had the easiest 12 months, the fact that she is back on tour and delivering great shows deserves to be highly commended but a lot of this emotion is lost here.
In contrast, Paolo Nutini springs on stage vibrant and full of enthusiasm to a crowd screaming with excitement, flanked either side of his set with the dramatic theme to The Godfather, perhaps a reference to his Italian ancestors.
Unlike many chart favourites the 23 year-old singer songwriter shows he deserves to be taken seriously as he moves effortlessly moving between reggae, soul country and pop, his band is also very adaptable. Like Wainwright, he plays a smattering of covers including a version of MGMT’s Kids and a song from Jamaican reggae star John Holt.
Despite his slightly worse for wear appearance Nutini has obviously planned this set well, saving one of his biggest hits ‘Last Request’; to the encore, the perfect ‘lighter moment’ with the same stillness that marked his performances of tracks such as ‘These Streets’ contrasting the vibrancy of ‘Jenny Don’t be Hasty’ and ’10/10′.
The show is very impressive, the whole band are giving it their all; there is some skilful VJing and lighting. Although he makes the odd mistake, Nutini’s loveable rogue smile and laid back manner means that the audience is putty in his hands and he seems to reciprocate this positivity along with a sense of awe for Eden’s futuristic setting he leaves the stage with “I love you Jurassic Park”.
8/10
First appeared on Never Enough Notes on July 12 2010
Released on June 7 2010 on Transgressive Records
Mr Flynn is back, and this time he is in the midst of the annoyingly labelled ‘nu-folk’ heyday.
First cutting his performing teeth playing fiddle with Emmy The Great, Flynn will be touring the UK when he and The Sussex Wit provide support for Mumford & Sons in the Autumn. He has also created a small YouTube storm with Laura Marling covering Jeffrey Lewis and Diane Cluck’s ‘Travel Light’, scoring over 237, 000 views. Marling and Flynn also collaborated on Been Listening for the song ‘The Water’, which sways mournfully like a small boat bobbing on lapping water.
Former single, ‘Kentucky Pill’ kicks off the album: guitar plucking and horns, full of sunshine. Chronicling the twists and turns of life in a light and airy way, songs like ‘Churlish May’ show why folk really is the best genre for telling stories and it is obvious that Flynn is a natural at bringing a story to life.
Although the music seems to be simple, the classically-trained musician also comes through in the drama and colour created by the music. The strings and brass add excitement and Been Listening is a slight departure from the more traditional debut, A Larum which was released in 2008. Keen to show that he can diversify, the next single to be released from the album is ‘Barnacled Warship’, out on August 16, a track with tones of regret but a bold fighting spirit, which also shows a sophistication and capability which means that Flynn should be taken just as seriously as his peers.
We all know that trends go round and round and right now folk is very much on a high. The nu-folk posse are not reinventing the genre completely but, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
8/10
First appeared on Never Enough Notes on July 6 2010
Live at the Eden Project, Cornwall on 02.07.2010
Lovely. The most appropriate way to describe this year’s batch of Eden Sessions. Organised to the tiniest detail the gigs are very polite and well, lovely. This year the Sessions have diversified and each night is loosely grouped into genre, but tonight’s combination of Mumford & Sons and Doves is a little uneasy.
Mumford & Sons have risen to mainstream fame since forming in 2007, reaffirming that waistcoats, beards and banjos are where it’s at. Still peddling their album ‘Sigh No More’, they also play new tracks tonight. ‘Nothing Is Written’ starts off slow and melancholy but the crowd are clapping along from the word go, and when it kicks in fully they erupt becoming a sea of jumping bodies. There is something resembling a small barn dance in the middle of the audience, a party which continues for the rest of the night. Another new song, ‘Lover of the Light’, has a tone full of optimism and hope, perfect on this clear evening. The new material is not a departure from the expected Mumford sound but there is a maturity in the arrangement and lyrics which shows growth.
The band capture and keep the audience’s attention with every song, full of energy and enthusiasm and audience also goes crazy for favourites like ‘Timshel’, ‘Feel The Tide Turning’, ‘Little Lion Man’, finishing with ‘The Cave’ before leaving everyone screaming for more.
Doves have some hard work to do: When the gig was announced Mumford & Sons were still emerging and Doves, with their solid following and previous storming set at the Eden Sessions in 2002, were a steadfast finishing band. And although the crowd is still up for it when they take the stage, it is clear that many are Doves virgins.
The band grab the audience well to start; Jimi Goodwin’s memorable voice and the moody and atmospheric music is the perfect soundtrack for the sun setting over the stunning Eden Project scenery. The band have worked hard on this ‘greatest hits’ tour and put on a good show with dramatic visuals including some interesting videos, my favourite being the ‘hoodies’ filmed for Black and White Town. The band relies heavily on the crowd being right there with them and affectionately coining the audience ‘Edeonions’, Goodwin manages to gain friends in most of them, especially when he offers to pay any council fines if the sound techs cranked up the volume.
Although transfixed by songs like Kingdom of Rust and The Cedar Room, the audience wander during lesser known songs. However, an encore is called for and those leaving to try and beat the traffic miss out big time. There is a new energy to the band, and the audience, and the party is at last starting as the band play out with the ecstatic Space Face from the band’s previous incarnation Sub Sub. Although Mumford & Sons and Doves turn out to be uneasy bedfellows, Doves’ experience shows through in their triumphant finish. I just wish they played their set in reverse.
7/10
First appeared on Never Enough Notes on June 30 2010
Released on June 7 2010 on Outsiderhood
With comparisons to PJ Harvey and Kate Bush as well as scoring collaborations with Bernard Butler and Liam Howe, Catherine AD, Catherine Anne Davies to her mother, has a lot going for her. Surrounded by highbrow hype, she has collaborated with Nitin Sawhney and was subsequently asked to be one of the London Southbank Centre’s Emerging Artists in Residence.
This dramatic EP is fourth in a line of DIY offerings and is billed as being a raw example of original demos, altered at home for release. The tracks actually sound a lot more polished and produced than that but she has a beautifully pure voice with dreamy ethereal qualities. Catherine is also a prolific multi-instrumentalist with a vast repertoire including including guitars, piano, organ, melodica, accordion, banjo and some clever programming on her trusty MacBook.
‘Skeleton Songs’ begins in a slow, otherworldly way, I imagine ‘Over and Over’ as backing music to an old fashioned jerky and silent video of children running around, playing on rope swings and jumping over rivers. The momentum is built to a gutsy, swinging finale with ‘The Heart Wants to Be A Hammer’ exiting with the sentiment: “a hammer, a bulldozer, maybe a knife” summing up the sweetness of the EP but a sweetness that can’t hide something altogether more sinister below the surface.
8/10
Amy Hall 