Venue: MADCAP, Wolverton
Bands: The White Moths / Phil Sky / The Further Adventures Of Vodka Boy / The Baron Makabre Band / Harikiri Heartbreak
Words: MMT & Phil W.
We think its criminal - given the amount of talent on show - that the recent MADCAP Fundraiser gigs have been so thin on the ground for audience. Not that we’re biased or anything, given that these gigs currently operate under the name of “The Dudebox Chronicles”! But if another one comes around, you really should check it out – whether it’s cos you dig the bands on offer, or just because it’s all for a good cause! And when you see the lights flashing and hear the sounds pumping, you’ll wish every night could be a MADCAP night!
The opening chapter of this second volume in The Dudebox Chronicles was written by THE WHITE MOTHS, who I hope won’t be offended if I describe them as having an impressively hard rock sound given that they all look very young indeed! Powerful bass and pummelling drums topped off with squalling electric riffs and very strong vocals which don’t like they should physically be able to come out of the body of the singer! I’d not seen them before, but I very much liked what I saw – definitely excited to see how they progress. Check out the live footage from this very gig on their Facebook group!
What The Dudebox Chronicles aim to do is mix together some of the best up-and-coming talent from the young bands who play in and around the MADCAP Music Centre along with some of the more established acts around. And I think the “lo-fi King of Milton Keynes” (© MK Citizen) PHIL SKY very much falls into that second category. Playing some totally new songs, the dude seemed totally at home framed by the beautiful old proscenium stage. I’m fast thinking his newish track “Supergirl” with its Evan Dando charm might be one of his best yet.
The second of the more established acts on this evening were none other than Milton Keynes's premier acoustic three-piece ‘man band’ THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF VODKA BOY, who this evening were also launching their third and probably best album yet – “Triple Filtered”. The band tore through a set of hits both old and new, plus a couple of covers reflecting the broad range of skills this band have accumulated over the last few years. I probably enjoyed the last two songs of the set best - a brilliant Eddie Cochran cover followed by their own new song “Cheerful Is The New Miserable”.
If you’ve never before seen Baron Makabre in action, I’m honestly not sure how to describe it to you! But if even if you have, if you’ve not seen him in action with THE BARON MAKABRE BAND then you totally have to! It makes the whole experience at least a thousand times better, if you can imagine such a thing! With a whole backing band of henchmen – sorry... Igors! – the songs become fully fledged monsters of rock. Literally! Plus the Baron’s use of stage props and his commitment to the role (he comperes the evening too) puts other acts to shame.
Final act of the night - HARIKIRI HEARTBREAK – seemed a little cross that their drummer couldn’t be with them because he’d gone on holiday! All sounds pretty rock n’ roll to me... We’ve seen them before as a full-on electric proposition, but it was actually interesting to see them perform as a duo, with just one acoustic guitar and a bass. The vocalist’s particular vocal technique was effective in a very different way stripped of the usual background sound. Intriguing!
All in all a fascinating night of musical variety – if you see a third volume advertised, get along. It doesn’t matter that you may not have read the first two in the series... it could still prove the read of your life! (yes... this metaphor is going to run and run!)
Friday, 12 August 2011
Sunday, 3 July 2011
FOO FIGHTERS
Venue: The National Bowl, Milton Keynes
Support: Biffy Clyro / Jimmy Eat World / The Hot Rats
Words: Phil W.
Every now and then it’s nice to take in a local gig rather than always heading down to London - I’ve been telling my editor for months I’ll get round to reviewing more local gigs so when some American band called the Foo Fighters announced they’d be playing a gig just round the corner from the Furzton Lodge where my brother and me regularly meet up for a pint, we thought we might pop along and see what they sounded like.
I was vaguely aware I’d caught them live a handful of times around a decade ago and they sounded pretty decent then and they had a record called The Color And The Shape which I’d liked a lot when it came out. I know since then they’ve picked up a few more fans - somehow this dude called Dave Grohl, who used to drum for popular beat combo Nirvana before front man Kurt Cobain met with an unfortunate accident with a shotgun in his garage, has put together a band that’s reached mass appeal with everyone from the toughest rocker to the trendiest grandparents all wanting in on his shows. Reportedly some 65,000 people had descended that warm Sunday afternoon to watch Dave’s rock n roll band so it was lucky he chose the large outdoor oval we like to call our National Bowl for the gig. I know we’d have loved to have him play our gig nights down at the Slug (every second Thursday of the month dudes!!) but I don’t think we’d have been able to fit everyone inside. (Sorry Chad, we didn’t even try to ask them! I think we may have dropped the ball on that one.)
Support: Biffy Clyro / Jimmy Eat World / The Hot Rats
Words: Phil W.
Every now and then it’s nice to take in a local gig rather than always heading down to London - I’ve been telling my editor for months I’ll get round to reviewing more local gigs so when some American band called the Foo Fighters announced they’d be playing a gig just round the corner from the Furzton Lodge where my brother and me regularly meet up for a pint, we thought we might pop along and see what they sounded like.
I was vaguely aware I’d caught them live a handful of times around a decade ago and they sounded pretty decent then and they had a record called The Color And The Shape which I’d liked a lot when it came out. I know since then they’ve picked up a few more fans - somehow this dude called Dave Grohl, who used to drum for popular beat combo Nirvana before front man Kurt Cobain met with an unfortunate accident with a shotgun in his garage, has put together a band that’s reached mass appeal with everyone from the toughest rocker to the trendiest grandparents all wanting in on his shows. Reportedly some 65,000 people had descended that warm Sunday afternoon to watch Dave’s rock n roll band so it was lucky he chose the large outdoor oval we like to call our National Bowl for the gig. I know we’d have loved to have him play our gig nights down at the Slug (every second Thursday of the month dudes!!) but I don’t think we’d have been able to fit everyone inside. (Sorry Chad, we didn’t even try to ask them! I think we may have dropped the ball on that one.)
The entertainment all kicked off around 4:30 with first support act The Hot Rats - a covers band duo formed by Gaz Coombes and Danny Goffey of UK act Supergrass. They got everyone in the mood with a set of seventies standards churned out with a massive Jack White style guitar sound and they were followed by Arizona pop-punks Jimmy Eat World that similarly worked the crowd as everyone baked in the afternoon sun. Between acts we got beer and Chinese food and then settled down for a great set from Scottish rockers Biffy Clyro. I remember seeing these guys play the Soundhouse in Northampton a few years back before they had a record out, sharing the stage with now defunct MK band Noon Layer Drive, so it was nice to see them come back and play a Milton Keynes gig and they seemed to go down well with a lot of the audience. I dug them a lot but, after their set as I stood in the men’s urinals and unconsciously listened in to the conversation of the guy relieving himself next to me, I heard him say “I feel bad for the Foo Fighters really, they’ll never be able to follow a set like that!” Now I’d seen the Foos ten years ago and they put on a pretty decent show then and was already sure the band would do pretty well tonight.
I wasn’t wrong. Don’t get me wrong, I dug the Biffy Clyro set but Dave’s rock n roll band really did go down a storm performing what I might describe as a truly awesome set. Now I know I use words like “awesome” and “legendary” quite a lot but I tell you it’s not my fault if the world is generally so awesome and legendary on such a regular basis, the whole thing is out of my control. Seriously dude, I live in Milton Keynes! And what could be a more awesome way of telling you how awesome and legendary this gig was than by writing it all down in a list??
10 Awesome Reasons Why The Foos Were Truly Awesome And Legendary On Sunday Night
1. They played This Is A Call! Dude!
2. Dave Grohl!! (see later list)
3. They played Monkey Wrench!! Dude!!!
4. Pat Smear!!
5. They played Stacked Actors!!! Dude!!!
6. The stage! It had these really groovy cylindrical shaped lights with screens on them and they moved around and somehow made the stage seem big and small all at the same time! Genius!
7. Seasick Steve!! There was an awesome moment when Dave welcomed Seasick Steve to the stage! Then he introduced John Paul Jones and then he asked if he could get behind the drums! As a bewildered Seasick Steve took on the role of front man with his three string guitar he said “ya know, five years ago I didn’t even have a job! And now I’m gonna play with Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones and to all you guys! I tell ya, anything can happen!” before playing Dog House Boogie.
8. The runway!! Straight down the middle of the pit, all the way to the sound desk was a runway that Dave energetically ran back and forth along. I tell you, for a 42 year old he’s got a hell of a lot of energy! On the other side of the sound desk was a second stage where Dave could say hi to the people at the back from and play his guitar from. At one point the three guitarists had a duel, one on each corner of the stage and Dave out on his little stage in the middle of the audience. Awesome!!
9. Butch Vig!! The dude came on stage and said hi to the audience at Dave’s request!
10. Taylor Hawkins and all the rest of the Foos!! This may have been an arena gig but this was definitely not a show, it was a gig. For all the flashing lights it was just a band rocking out, playing rock n roll from a stage covered in amps. Even the keyboard player got an intro from Dave.
11. For an encore they played Everlong!!!! Dude!!!!! :-D
5 Awesome Reasons Why Dave Grohl Is Awesome
1. The dude spent the whole gig with the biggest grin on his face and his mood was infectious – throughout the gig the whole band grinned, laughed, joked and hugged each other. Cool people tend not to grin, you’ve gotta be übercool to pull off the grin. You know, the kind of cool where you really just don’t care about being cool cause you know, if you care you just aren’t cool anymore.
2. He told everyone repeatedly how much he loved them. I know there were 64,999 other people there but he made me feel special. Not a lot of entertainers can do that. Not many can include the whole audience in the collective feeling of being at a gig rather than watching one happen far away.
3. At some point he gushed in front of the audience and said “you know, you guys have always treated us like we’re the biggest band in the world. You know, I start to wonder, maybe tonight we ARE the biggest band in the world.” Somehow he still seemed humble when he said this.
4. The dude plays a mean guitar and writes a mean song, effortlessly combining the angst and the upbeat without ever sounding clichéd.
5. Dude, the dude played in Nirvana!
In the end, it was Dave Grohl’s ability to work 65,000 people and make them all seem included in the magic that turned this gig from a vast arena concert into an intimate gig with your mates Dave and Pat and Taylor and all the other Foos. I walked away feeling like I knew the guy - he was like an old friend I hadn’t seen in years. Sure, he got really popular sometime back and after that I didn’t see him as often, bands never seem as cool once your parents want to go to their gigs, but as he debated over the big screens from back stage how many songs the band should play in the encore I felt like my screams mattered, that he was at least partly talking to me. As he stood on his little stage out in the audience he said “you know, you all feel like family to me! This doesn’t seem weird! I just love you guys!” Dave is the final proof that nice guys can finish first, they may not do it as often as the nasty ones but when they do they seriously kick ass! What can I say – Dave, man, you’re a dude!
Friday, 20 May 2011
Dudebox "Track Of The Spring"
I guess this could be the last Dudebox Track Of The Season review in this format – as this year has gone on it’s become more and more apparent that MySpace is well Over. Always a slightly clunky format, it looks like it’s been finally killed off by the twin attack of YouTube and Facebook. I’m finding more and more that new bands haven’t bothered with it, and old bands aren’t updating theirs. So until Facebook allows you to listen to bands’ music without Liking them – or until I decide I’m happy to Like every single band I come across, we might be approaching a Reviewing Impasse!
Still – that doesn’t mean we haven’t got some more great local music for you to listen to right here! Get it while you can!
((As always, I am duty-bound to announce the Disclaimer that none of these bands have asked us to review their music – in fact I’d be surprised if any of them ever realise we’ve done it! – but the point of the matter is to try and shine some lights onto all the corners of this always-surprisingly-large-and-vibrant-and-various local music scene. Break out the cutlery and let’s have some dinner. A dinner of Rock!))
MMT.
“All Burned Out”: KASTAPHOR
Forget MySpace or Facebook - Kastaphor are professional enough to have their own website with music on anyway – they play gigs in London, all over the adjoining counties, and at The Stables! They’ve got that kind of ‘polished’ ‘adult’ vibe, without being dull. Singer Emma has an incredibly soulful voice, there some excellent guitar soloing, and although it’s not really my sort of music it’s unarguably an accomplished song which you can imagine going down perfectly in a smoky rock club.
“Mexican Doom”: VOMIT WHORES
We reviewed Vomit Whores way back in our first ever Dudebox Track Of The Season review a couple of years back, and at the time I wasn’t sure if they might even be a joke band – but this is much better! The kind of queasy funk-edged metal you’d expect from Mike Patton fans, muscular and relentless. A punchy treat that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
“Gangsters”: IDOLTRIBE
We discovered this on DJ Michael’s Basement Music compilation, and for me their session version of this track was the standout track on that CD. It bounces along in an incredibly jaunty semi-acoustic manner, and then when the backing vocals kick in in the chorus you think “blimey, this is something special”. There’s even a bass solo! It’s the sort of song I feel compelled to learn the words to so I can sing / chant drunkenly along to – and I can’t give much higher praise than that!
“Hold Your Own”: KEEPER OF THE RIFLE
This season’s MK Metal Korner! As hairy and intense as you’d imagine, but reassuringly still has a strong sense of melody in amongst the shouting and growling. And as we’ve noted before in these reviews, the local metal bands seem to have no problem whatsoever in producing studio-quality recordings, this could easily be a long-established national band by the sound of this track. Love the solos too. (flicks devil horns)
“Farewell Goodbye”: ROSES AND PIRATES
Another lovely song by the R&P ladeez, our Track Of The Season winners last Summer with “The Rose”. This is altogether more reflective, a gentle lullaby for the end of a long and testing night. You can almost hear the bar staff trying to clear out the audience, who won’t leave till they’ve heard the final beautiful note fade.
“Flaming Sun”: WITHOUT REASON
Surfing the quiet-loud dynamic as well as any local band I’ve heard recently, this mixes beautiful vocal harmonies, a persistent groove from the bass, a casual yet cool solo and occasional full on hard-rock choruses. Another new name to me, but I’m hoping to catch them live very soon. We don’t have enough bands who sound like this.
“Is It Real Yet?”: FALL SHORT FOR GLORY
Some beautifully intricate lead guitar ushers us right into this sugary slice of punk-pop – it feels like a sunny day in FSFG’s world and I’m happy to be in it with them! That spiralling solo effect is almost mesmerising, but the rest of the song is impressive too – melodic, upbeat, well produced and an intriguing first experience of this band for me. I’m keen to hear more.
“Don’t Believe Her Smile”: ISABELLE
One of the most prolific of local bands – I can’t believe they’ve also got time to fit in running the excellent Sno!Bar Open Mic as well as their Leighton Buzzard gigs and social lives! – are back with another new album... and they’re so prolific that thing song isn’t even on it!! I love the keyboard on this – or it could even be an actual organ! Summery, soulful, sumptuous. They can’t miss at this kind of stuff.
RUNNER UP DUDEBOX TRACK OF THE SPRING
“Red, Green, Black”: SOUTH SEA COMPANY
We may have reviewed them last time round as well, but this track especially shows a definite step on since we first heard them. It’s confident, mature (in a good way!) – the bass drives along a slowly building indie-pop gem. This is a really impressive song, indicating not just a good present but a very good future if they’re already at this standard!
DUDEBOX TRACK OF THE SPRING
“Shyrite”: HOUSE OF JOHN PLAYER
Whatever else, it’s the different stuff that I really get excited by! Loops, synths, shuffly beats and vocals drifting between emotionless droning and an emotional falsetto. This is an excellent track – a standout among a bunch of almost-equally as impressive tracks. This dude played at the Sno!Bar a month or two back and I missed it – will be looking out for him in action again though. Hypnotic, a midsummer day’s dream.
Monday, 25 April 2011
ON AIR:MK CD Review
“ON AIR:MK” – Live Sessions Of ‘Basement Music’
Review by MMT.
Basement Music on MySpace
Basement Music on Facebook
We’ll get to the other reasons to buy a copy of “On Air:MK” in a minute, but #1 and surely the Main Reason – it’s a really good compilation by a load of MK acts! Musak technology has improved to the point where it’s actually reassuringly easy to get together a collection of local band recordings these days – but that doesn’t always mean they’re going to be good collections!
But this 21-track extravaganza, culled from roughly a billion live sessions (give or take) recorded by DJ Michael Andrews and his team over the first year-and-a-bit of his “Basement Music” show on CRMK? This is good. So that’s reason enough alone – from the opening clatter of “Crash & Burn” by the excellent SuperMassiveMonkeyMen via the rolling “The Call” by City By Dawn to the scattergun rap of Soul which closes the CD – it’s a great mix of the sorts of bands they have on every single flippin' week!
People are downright sick of me & Phil banging on about the great local acts we see all over the place at acoustic open mics, full on gig gigs and all sorts of super festivals in town, so it’s a pleasure to hear so many of the performers we enthuse over collected together by someone else who appreciates them: people like Seeking Salvation Through Love, Isabelle, and YC Olie are familiar treats to us by now. But there’s new stuff here too, bands we’ve never heard before. The jaunty but tuneful “Gangsters” by Idoltribe is one of the best tracks featured, I’ll definitely be looking out for them on the local circuit now. Likewise Beds act Embrace The City, whose full electric sound doesn’t lose any energy in this acoustic translation.
One of the things I like best about the compilation is that they’ve left in some of the rawness of the sessions. Several of the tracks open with the artist’s own introduction from the show, and on occasion we hear DJ Michael himself chatting with the acts. So it may be a bit rough round the edges, but that’s all part of the ‘live session’ charm. Having said that, several of the bands manage to create a full sound despite the tinyness of the CRMK studios (the excellent dance act Dusque especially).
Though not every single track is necessarily My Cup Of Tea, it’s also a nice mix of genres – though there is a lot of acoustic stuff (due to the nature of the studio) it covers lots of differing flavours therein (folky, soulful, lo-fi, poppy, rocky), and there’s also dancier sounds (hip-hop n’ scratching from Soul & DJ Kraze1 and funky grooves: Dusque again). And some of the acts do something a little different from their usual work – there’s a beautiful ukulele version of “Old Rosie” by Dudebox regular, the artist formerly known as Project Wolverine.
Reason #2. Though we absolutely and loyally support Basement Music and all who sail in her, we’re just not able listen every week. It’s a crying shame given how much work Michael does for local music – and so if you, like us, can’t listen to every single show, buy this instead! Use it as a handy compendium of all the great stuff you’ve missed!
Reason #3. It’s for charity. And a charity close to home to some of the people involved in the compilation too (Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund). And that’s a reason you really can’t argue with. Dig deep. And rock on.
Review by MMT.
Basement Music on MySpace
Basement Music on Facebook
We’ll get to the other reasons to buy a copy of “On Air:MK” in a minute, but #1 and surely the Main Reason – it’s a really good compilation by a load of MK acts! Musak technology has improved to the point where it’s actually reassuringly easy to get together a collection of local band recordings these days – but that doesn’t always mean they’re going to be good collections!
But this 21-track extravaganza, culled from roughly a billion live sessions (give or take) recorded by DJ Michael Andrews and his team over the first year-and-a-bit of his “Basement Music” show on CRMK? This is good. So that’s reason enough alone – from the opening clatter of “Crash & Burn” by the excellent SuperMassiveMonkeyMen via the rolling “The Call” by City By Dawn to the scattergun rap of Soul which closes the CD – it’s a great mix of the sorts of bands they have on every single flippin' week!
People are downright sick of me & Phil banging on about the great local acts we see all over the place at acoustic open mics, full on gig gigs and all sorts of super festivals in town, so it’s a pleasure to hear so many of the performers we enthuse over collected together by someone else who appreciates them: people like Seeking Salvation Through Love, Isabelle, and YC Olie are familiar treats to us by now. But there’s new stuff here too, bands we’ve never heard before. The jaunty but tuneful “Gangsters” by Idoltribe is one of the best tracks featured, I’ll definitely be looking out for them on the local circuit now. Likewise Beds act Embrace The City, whose full electric sound doesn’t lose any energy in this acoustic translation.
One of the things I like best about the compilation is that they’ve left in some of the rawness of the sessions. Several of the tracks open with the artist’s own introduction from the show, and on occasion we hear DJ Michael himself chatting with the acts. So it may be a bit rough round the edges, but that’s all part of the ‘live session’ charm. Having said that, several of the bands manage to create a full sound despite the tinyness of the CRMK studios (the excellent dance act Dusque especially).
Though not every single track is necessarily My Cup Of Tea, it’s also a nice mix of genres – though there is a lot of acoustic stuff (due to the nature of the studio) it covers lots of differing flavours therein (folky, soulful, lo-fi, poppy, rocky), and there’s also dancier sounds (hip-hop n’ scratching from Soul & DJ Kraze1 and funky grooves: Dusque again). And some of the acts do something a little different from their usual work – there’s a beautiful ukulele version of “Old Rosie” by Dudebox regular, the artist formerly known as Project Wolverine.
Reason #2. Though we absolutely and loyally support Basement Music and all who sail in her, we’re just not able listen every week. It’s a crying shame given how much work Michael does for local music – and so if you, like us, can’t listen to every single show, buy this instead! Use it as a handy compendium of all the great stuff you’ve missed!
Reason #3. It’s for charity. And a charity close to home to some of the people involved in the compilation too (Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund). And that’s a reason you really can’t argue with. Dig deep. And rock on.
Friday, 8 April 2011
Mitchell Taylor ALBUM
“Tales From Albion” by MITCHELL TAYLOR
Review: Phil
The record opens in a pub barroom with “Pub Politics” in which a carefree Mitchell tells us "we're all going to die, so let’s enjoy tonight, let’s not fuss and fight." Casually throwing caution to the wind for one more pint over conversation involving furniture and revolutionary politics, the record plunges us into the uncertain world of being 18 and in England in the first decade of the 21st Century. It’s a world he paints clearly as he lets us glimpse fleeting images of life through his eyes that capture all the joy, heartache, ambivalence and certainty of life just on the edge of adulthood.
“Tales From Albion” is the exceptional debut album from Mitchell Taylor - at 18, the artist formally known as Project Wolverine has recorded something of a masterpiece carefully assembled into ten superbly crafted songs. Yes, it’s high praise but it’s well deserved as the culmination of several years’ hard work. In 2009 and 2010 Mitchell Taylor (under the name Project Wolverine) released two albums - 2009's “Life, Love, Loss & Politics” and 2010’s “Lost Boy Blues”, two great lo-fi records that sometimes played more like demos but showed an artist with a burgeoning talent - and it is songs culled and re-recorded from these two collections that make up the bulk of “Tales From Albion”. But even then, with two lo-fi albums and a string of impressive live performances under his belt, the leap to “Tales From Albion” is still a very big one and not just in the production or the addition of a smattering of extra instruments - or the near perfect performances captured in these recordings. It is in the songs he's chosen and the order they play. If being an artist is about making decisions then Mitchell has made all the right ones here. He has recorded an album that is above all shockingly cohesive and single-minded in its vision.
On “Daily Mail” Mitchell proclaims that his generation just need some clarification that they are the future of this nation, sliding the statement next to the image of him and some friends being moved on by a policeman for loitering. He explains it wasn’t like they really meant to cause any trouble, they were just looking for somewhere to hang. On “Cold Baked Beans”, Mitchell sounds defeated and lonely in a world consumed by rampant consumerism, and he takes the same tone later on the album with “England”, an alternative anthem that paints an England defeated and cold - yet the song still sounds patriotic, the sadness conveying the curious love we all have deep inside for our cynical island. On “Socialism Is For Lovers” Mitchell worries about the life of debt he's destined to live after university while he expresses his darkest fears for the future on “Coalition Blues” when he paints a dystopian future without a National Health Service.
Mitchell’s 21st Century England is a dark and cynical place, obsessed with consumerism and rampant with lazy tabloid journalists and overzealous policemen ready to pull apart today’s youth at every turn, but it is also an England cluttered with characters - friend and foe - whose encounters fill the lyrics of every song like Polaroid snapshots tacked onto a bedroom wall. The album’s final two tracks take us even closer to home; what picture of teenage life would be complete without the girl he pines for on “Loves You More Than I” and asks “is there a man who loves you more than I?” The final track ("Some Girl"), framed inside an encounter with a police officer who tells Mitchell he looks like a thief, has him responding that he's not looking to steal, he's just looking for love. There's hope still for Mitchell in his dark world of policemen and politicians. Yes, his subject matter can be heavy but this doesn’t stop the album being enjoyable and uplifting in its youthful exuberance.
“Tales From Albion” is a meteoric step forward, well arranged and almost perfectly crafted, and with just enough fray around the edges to retain the rawness we loved on his earlier records. Throughout the record the smattering of extra instruments is just enough to keep the record interesting but not so many that it takes the focus away from Mitchell as a solo artist. From the drums on “Cold Baked Beans”, the strings on “Coalition Blues” and the uprising of instruments on “Some Girl”, the balance is never over-powering leaving Mitchell with his tunes and his lyrics to take centre stage. “Tales From Albion” is nothing short of a masterpiece from the prolific Mitchell Taylor, for forty minutes or so he lets us see the world through his eyes and this is his greatest achievement. He sounds like the voice of his generation; he shows us how the youth see the world of today and he dares us not to ignore him. And ignoring an album as good as this would be criminal.
Review: Phil
The record opens in a pub barroom with “Pub Politics” in which a carefree Mitchell tells us "we're all going to die, so let’s enjoy tonight, let’s not fuss and fight." Casually throwing caution to the wind for one more pint over conversation involving furniture and revolutionary politics, the record plunges us into the uncertain world of being 18 and in England in the first decade of the 21st Century. It’s a world he paints clearly as he lets us glimpse fleeting images of life through his eyes that capture all the joy, heartache, ambivalence and certainty of life just on the edge of adulthood.
“Tales From Albion” is the exceptional debut album from Mitchell Taylor - at 18, the artist formally known as Project Wolverine has recorded something of a masterpiece carefully assembled into ten superbly crafted songs. Yes, it’s high praise but it’s well deserved as the culmination of several years’ hard work. In 2009 and 2010 Mitchell Taylor (under the name Project Wolverine) released two albums - 2009's “Life, Love, Loss & Politics” and 2010’s “Lost Boy Blues”, two great lo-fi records that sometimes played more like demos but showed an artist with a burgeoning talent - and it is songs culled and re-recorded from these two collections that make up the bulk of “Tales From Albion”. But even then, with two lo-fi albums and a string of impressive live performances under his belt, the leap to “Tales From Albion” is still a very big one and not just in the production or the addition of a smattering of extra instruments - or the near perfect performances captured in these recordings. It is in the songs he's chosen and the order they play. If being an artist is about making decisions then Mitchell has made all the right ones here. He has recorded an album that is above all shockingly cohesive and single-minded in its vision.
On “Daily Mail” Mitchell proclaims that his generation just need some clarification that they are the future of this nation, sliding the statement next to the image of him and some friends being moved on by a policeman for loitering. He explains it wasn’t like they really meant to cause any trouble, they were just looking for somewhere to hang. On “Cold Baked Beans”, Mitchell sounds defeated and lonely in a world consumed by rampant consumerism, and he takes the same tone later on the album with “England”, an alternative anthem that paints an England defeated and cold - yet the song still sounds patriotic, the sadness conveying the curious love we all have deep inside for our cynical island. On “Socialism Is For Lovers” Mitchell worries about the life of debt he's destined to live after university while he expresses his darkest fears for the future on “Coalition Blues” when he paints a dystopian future without a National Health Service.
Mitchell’s 21st Century England is a dark and cynical place, obsessed with consumerism and rampant with lazy tabloid journalists and overzealous policemen ready to pull apart today’s youth at every turn, but it is also an England cluttered with characters - friend and foe - whose encounters fill the lyrics of every song like Polaroid snapshots tacked onto a bedroom wall. The album’s final two tracks take us even closer to home; what picture of teenage life would be complete without the girl he pines for on “Loves You More Than I” and asks “is there a man who loves you more than I?” The final track ("Some Girl"), framed inside an encounter with a police officer who tells Mitchell he looks like a thief, has him responding that he's not looking to steal, he's just looking for love. There's hope still for Mitchell in his dark world of policemen and politicians. Yes, his subject matter can be heavy but this doesn’t stop the album being enjoyable and uplifting in its youthful exuberance.
“Tales From Albion” is a meteoric step forward, well arranged and almost perfectly crafted, and with just enough fray around the edges to retain the rawness we loved on his earlier records. Throughout the record the smattering of extra instruments is just enough to keep the record interesting but not so many that it takes the focus away from Mitchell as a solo artist. From the drums on “Cold Baked Beans”, the strings on “Coalition Blues” and the uprising of instruments on “Some Girl”, the balance is never over-powering leaving Mitchell with his tunes and his lyrics to take centre stage. “Tales From Albion” is nothing short of a masterpiece from the prolific Mitchell Taylor, for forty minutes or so he lets us see the world through his eyes and this is his greatest achievement. He sounds like the voice of his generation; he shows us how the youth see the world of today and he dares us not to ignore him. And ignoring an album as good as this would be criminal.
Friday, 18 March 2011
CELLARTAPES
The Cellartapes Experience
(Reviewer - MMT)
There’s something infinitely mysterious about the Cellartapes label. Or maybe it’s just that my ordered librarian’s mind seeks always to define and classify – Cellartapes seem to defy definition, and that’s what I find so perversely intriguing about them. A superlative example of how groups of creative minds can come together via the Internet and create whole scenes under their own steam – in Cellartapes’ case a brilliant batch of electronica, dance, ambient, trance, jam-band and other types of music I don’t even have the vocabulary to describe.
Anyway, the many and various acts signed (well, maybe signed isn’t the right word. They’re more mysterious than that!) - affiliated to the Cellartapes label can all be seen at their page on the ReverbNation site. Which I must admit is also a site I find very mysterious! Kind of an alternative MySpace which is also able to compile local download charts… now that does interest my librarian’s mind.
OTL, described as “the producer and technical studio dogsbody at the centre of operations” is a character we know pretty well from Real Life™. But that’s about as much as we do know. Though if you’ve been beautiful and shrewd enough to buy yourself a copy of the latest “Monkey Kettle & Friends Rock” compilation CD, you might already be familiar with Invisible Rhino's “Charge Consumer”. Invisible Rhino describe themselves as making “Dancing Upside-down Music”. Which is about right. Bouncy, atmospheric mood dance. “In Imitation Of Our Better Selves” is a particularly good example, evolving into a squelchy track that’s almost industrial at times. “Credit Card Or Bust” is even stompier.
Mucky Badger has possibly the best name among the Cellartapes artists, and my favourite track by him / them has probably the best track name too: “Billie Moo Moos Again” – presumably referring to the lowing noise which drifts in and out over the jittery rhythm and cartoon chattering. While Stasis looks like it’s another name under which OTL himself records, this time in a much more ambient / dreamlike mode – and one which I enjoyed in particular, the moody “Ducks Of Midnight” a particular standout. And it would appear The Ninth Tentacle is also OTL (though you never know!!), here in ongoing dancey jams featuring spiralling electric guitars (such as “i believe in milko” (the title a subtle “Home & Away” reference I think!) and the excellently atmospheric “Developing Fluid”) – maybe the best place to start for those people who like guitars!
Definitely a band in their own right – because we’ve seen them play live several times! – are Dusque, who are a groovy synthy outfit with punchy rhythms and a summery vibe. If you ever get the chance to check them out live, you definitely should.
Some of the acts do appear to be based further afield, Alex Final who makes off-kilter blocks of robot poetry appears to be from California; Coccinella’s trancey synths are from the Netherlands; while Bachuus looks like he’s from Denmark and records the sort of laid-back stuff that someone like me who doesn’t listen to enough of this sort of stuff might call “chillwave”. But maybe this is all recorded in Emerson Valley, who knows?
So, some of the above artists may or may not be the same people. Or some of the same people in different combinations. Or some different people under the same pseudonyms, for that matter. We just don’t know. That's how mysterious the whole Cellartapes affair is, and y’know what? That’s the way I like it. The only real answers are the tracks – which are smashing. Come on in.
(Reviewer - MMT)
There’s something infinitely mysterious about the Cellartapes label. Or maybe it’s just that my ordered librarian’s mind seeks always to define and classify – Cellartapes seem to defy definition, and that’s what I find so perversely intriguing about them. A superlative example of how groups of creative minds can come together via the Internet and create whole scenes under their own steam – in Cellartapes’ case a brilliant batch of electronica, dance, ambient, trance, jam-band and other types of music I don’t even have the vocabulary to describe.
Anyway, the many and various acts signed (well, maybe signed isn’t the right word. They’re more mysterious than that!) - affiliated to the Cellartapes label can all be seen at their page on the ReverbNation site. Which I must admit is also a site I find very mysterious! Kind of an alternative MySpace which is also able to compile local download charts… now that does interest my librarian’s mind.
OTL, described as “the producer and technical studio dogsbody at the centre of operations” is a character we know pretty well from Real Life™. But that’s about as much as we do know. Though if you’ve been beautiful and shrewd enough to buy yourself a copy of the latest “Monkey Kettle & Friends Rock” compilation CD, you might already be familiar with Invisible Rhino's “Charge Consumer”. Invisible Rhino describe themselves as making “Dancing Upside-down Music”. Which is about right. Bouncy, atmospheric mood dance. “In Imitation Of Our Better Selves” is a particularly good example, evolving into a squelchy track that’s almost industrial at times. “Credit Card Or Bust” is even stompier.
Mucky Badger has possibly the best name among the Cellartapes artists, and my favourite track by him / them has probably the best track name too: “Billie Moo Moos Again” – presumably referring to the lowing noise which drifts in and out over the jittery rhythm and cartoon chattering. While Stasis looks like it’s another name under which OTL himself records, this time in a much more ambient / dreamlike mode – and one which I enjoyed in particular, the moody “Ducks Of Midnight” a particular standout. And it would appear The Ninth Tentacle is also OTL (though you never know!!), here in ongoing dancey jams featuring spiralling electric guitars (such as “i believe in milko” (the title a subtle “Home & Away” reference I think!) and the excellently atmospheric “Developing Fluid”) – maybe the best place to start for those people who like guitars!
Definitely a band in their own right – because we’ve seen them play live several times! – are Dusque, who are a groovy synthy outfit with punchy rhythms and a summery vibe. If you ever get the chance to check them out live, you definitely should.
Some of the acts do appear to be based further afield, Alex Final who makes off-kilter blocks of robot poetry appears to be from California; Coccinella’s trancey synths are from the Netherlands; while Bachuus looks like he’s from Denmark and records the sort of laid-back stuff that someone like me who doesn’t listen to enough of this sort of stuff might call “chillwave”. But maybe this is all recorded in Emerson Valley, who knows?
So, some of the above artists may or may not be the same people. Or some of the same people in different combinations. Or some different people under the same pseudonyms, for that matter. We just don’t know. That's how mysterious the whole Cellartapes affair is, and y’know what? That’s the way I like it. The only real answers are the tracks – which are smashing. Come on in.
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