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June 2020 = |
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Sven Wunder |
Jack Sharp |
Looking
Glass singles |
Rowan Amber Mill |
Sam
Moss |
Monteagle |
Kimberley Rew
and Lee Cave-Berry |
Mugstar+Damo
Suzuki |
Sloath |
Custard
Flux |
Fruits
de Mer comp |
Richard
Davies and the Dissidents |
The Great White Dap
comp |
Anton Barbeau |
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Home
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SVEN
WUNDER – EASTERN FLOWERS
LP/Digital
on (Light
in the Attic Records)
Where
on earth did this come from?
Eastern Mediterranean sounds shot through
with funky psychedelic library music grooves
makes for a sound hipsters are gobbling up in
droves. Eastern
Flowers, released in mid-April, has gone through
at least three LP pressings and still they keep
flying off the shelves.
Swedish producer Sven Wunder, who
intentionally shrouds himself in mystery, is
certainly off with a bang.
A grant from the Swedish Arts Council
resulted in a decidedly low-key 2019 release on
the small Piano Piano label.
Now, picked up for distribution by the
mighty Light in the Attic, Eastern Flowers is in
full blossom.
The
13 instrumental tracks, most clocking in at the
two to three-minute range, are all named after
the region’s fauna – Lotus, Hibiscus, Chamomile,
Hyacinth and the like.
Their names may not be very exotic, but
the sound grooves are out of this world.
Wunder usually starts with an Anatolian
flavor, using authentic instruments like saz and
mandolins, lays down an impossible-to-sit-still
groove, sprinkles in some guitars, ranging from
clean-toned to wah-wah run through an electric
tangerine color explosion, adds psychedelic
snaking, wormlike, creepy crawly analogue
synths, then tops it off with bass and drumming
whose rhythmic qualities know no bounds.
Although
the album has basically one musical style, it’s
a fresh one and a banger at that.
Wunder throws enough melodic and
instrumental curves that you never lose
interest. Quite
the opposite, in fact.
The more, um, “flowers” you hear, the
more you want.
Wunder
only uses the region as a starting reference, as
I could swear I hear influences of Gypsy and
Klezmer music at times as well, or the snake
charmer clarinet of “Magnolia (Reprise),” wrong
continents be damned.
And by the way, this music makes for a
backdrop to some great workouts, if you’re so
inclined.
If
you try out Eastern Flowers and find it to your
liking, and I certainly think you will, and you
can’t wait for more Sven Wunder, I have good
news. Wunder
has a new album, entitled ‘Wabi Sabi,’ scheduled
for release 12 Jun, that’s less than two months
after Eastern Flowers’ world debut.
The opening sentence of the press release
for Eastern Flowers gives a clue about Wunder’s
intentions: “This
is the first stop on Sven Wunder’s musical
journey.” So,
it would seem the mysterious Mr. Wunder perhaps
has a sort of global grand tour in store for us.
The first single release off ‘Wabi Sabi,’
entitled “Yugen,” makes things clearer.
Swapping the mandolin and saz for
shakuchachi, gong, and guzheng (Chinese zither),
‘Wabi Sabi’ will do for traditional Japanese and
Chinese music what ‘Eastern Flowers’ did for the
East Med. Throw
in a jazzy electric piano and those irresistible
bass and drum beats, and you have Deodato’s
“Also Sprach Zarathustra” gone Far East.
Snap
up these two LPs if you can.
But if you strike out, at his current
pace Mr. Wunder might have another installment
ready before you know it.
(Mark
Feingold)
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JACK
SHARP - GOOD TIMES OLDER
(From
Here SITW015CD)
They
say patience is a virtue, well it’s been a long
wait for Jack’s album to arrive, he’s been
giving us tantalising glimpses of the material
in his live solo shows since as far back as
2016. However, judging by the amount of times I
have spun the disc since it was released a few
weeks back, I’d say it was a wait well worth
enduring!!
Though
folk music has permeated much of his
song-writing for his band, Wolf People, this
debut is still a departure for him, and one
stripped of all things electric! Out on Stick in
the Wheel’s label, it is unsurprisingly a family
affair, after all the East London folk rockers
were often support act for Wolf People in their
early days. Wheel’s Nicola Kearey has guested on
various WP recordings whilst Jack has returned
the favour and added his voice to at least one
of theirs, notably on their summer solstice 45,
on a tune called ‘Lemady Arise’. Fellow Sticker
Ian Carter recorded, produced, mixed and
mastered this debut as well as adding his
distinctive guitar style to ‘White Hare’.
Nicola once again adds her unmistakable
tonsils to various vocal harmonies on the record
and supplies the artwork.
No
doubt part of the album’s charm is the location
it was recorded at. Says
Jack: We
recorded it in
Elstow Moot Hall, which is a 15th century
timber framed market hall just outside Bedford.
It's a museum and is open to the public so we
were really lucky to be allowed to use it for a
few days recording. We had actually been using
it to put on unamplified folk gigs, and the
acoustics were amazing so we figured it made
sense to try to record something there. I think
we went three times, once to check it out and
two full sessions, but all the takes on the
album ended up being from the second session’.
Music from the wood indeed!
Sharp
is not afraid to wear his influences on his
sleeve, notably trail-blazing six-string players
such as Nic Jones and Martin Carthy and it isn’t
difficult to hear how they have shaped his
approach to his acoustic picking here. However,
one figure I was surprised to hear Jack say has
had an equally significant impact on him is band
mate, Joe Holick: ‘Joe from Wolf People has taught
me an awful lot as well, he's an incredible
acoustic player and has shown me different
tunings, phrasings, and note choices that I
never would have tried otherwise. I've learned
to play in a much more raga-ey open style since
playing with Joe, and definitely moved further
away from standard blues shapes. I was a very
basic guitarist when we first started Wolf
People, and playing next to him was a very steep
learning curve!’
The
record
opens with the title cut and lyrically it’s hard
to believe this is not a contemporary ballad. It
seems to address current environmental concerns
and I was keen to hear Jack’s take on this. ‘It's
based on a song called ‘Good Old Days of Adam
and Eve’, which is meant to be a moral religious
song. I took the verses, made up a new tune and
changed the chorus lyrics. The lyrics were
collected in Clophill village in Bedfordshire in
1904, and the book even gives the street which
places it about 100 yards from the house I grew
up in! I see it as being about the loss of
nature, but it's also about how dangerous
nostalgia can be, and how we create an
unrealistically positive image of our past where
things were always better. The whole getting our
country back and making things great again
bullshit is really dangerous’.
Similarly,
the heart-rending ‘Soldier Song’ too has a very
modern edge, it may as well have been written in
current times as opposed to say the Napoleonic
or Crimean era exploring as it does, post combat
stress disorder. Sharp says: ‘I would love to say it was meticulously researched, but the song and the
story just sort of arrived all at once. I liked
the idea of a modern version of a soldier
ballad. I almost didn't record it because it
felt a bit too obvious if you know what I mean,
I kept waiting for someone to tell me to stop
singing it, so I hope I didn't cross a line with
it.’
Many
of the numbers in his current repertoire are
culled from his native Bedfordshire and I asked
him how he sourced them: ‘I got a lot from the local
library, there is a collection of songs that
were sent in to the Bedfordshire Times in 1904.
It's called Old Songs Sung in Bedfordshire.
That's where ‘Lacemaker’ and ‘Good Times Older’
are from. I got ‘Maids Lament’ from an LP of
source recordings by Fred Hamer called ‘Garners
Gay’. It's from the singing of Mrs Johnstone of
Bedford, recorded in 1959.
Whist
most of the material draws from the folk
tradition, there’s a more than decent stab at
Robin Williamson’s ‘God Dog’, actually learnt
from Shirley Collins’s seminal Anthems in
Eden rather than the ISB’s Chelsea
Sessions 1967, whilst a main attraction
of finally laying my hands on this album for me
has always been to secure a live favourite for
home listening. ‘Treecreeper’, a celebration of
one of Britain’s most secretive passerines, left
its indelible mark on me the first time I heard
him play it. A delightful Sharp original, in the
vein of ‘Kingfisher’, his word play here is
quite as nimble as the bird’s arboreal antics.
It’s fair to say that as good as his
interpretation of traditional material is, I’d
like to see him come up with more originals as
potent as this.
The
album closes with the beautiful ‘May Morning
Dew’, a bitter-sweet lament, quite as lovely as
anything Jansch did on Rosemary Lane,
with Edwin Ireland’s emotive cello adding a lush
baroque feel here (and to other cuts on the
disc). Living in a virtual world because of lock
down, it’s been impossible to get out and enjoy
the rites of spring, the dawn chorus, the
hawthorn hedges flowering and meadows in early
bloom, but this song almost takes me there!!
To
say this record is an absolute treat would be to
almost damn it with faint praise. It’s hard to
believe that it is a mere dozen of years since
our esteemed editor first pointed us in the
direction of that early Wolf People ‘Black
Water’ 45. Good Times Older reveals a
real coming of age and a rare peerless
musicianship, a work of which Mr Sharp should be
very proud. Undoubtedly on the evidence here,
there is more greatness to come.
(Nigel
Cross )
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LOOKING
GLASS
SINGLE SERIES
Digital
on (Bandcamp)
In
response to the coronavirus’ effect on artists,
Brooklyn-based record label Mexican Summer has
launched a singles series on a new imprint
called Looking Glass.
Working together with Bandcamp, the
series sees releases from artists, some in the
Mexican Summer stable, others in the wider
extended family, where all proceeds will go
straight to the artist, or a charity of their
choice.
In
practice, since the series began in late April,
every few days Looking Glass has been releasing
a new single (unfortunately digital only) from
another artist.
Some are big names such as Ariel Pink and
Tim Presley/White Fence, while others are lesser
known, at least to your hapless scribe.
As of this writing, the series is up to
13 singles, with more to come.
As
one might expect under the circumstances, the
collection is a mixed bag; many of the songs are
new, freshly recorded for Looking Glass, while
others have been plucked from the shelves.
Some have a raw, intimate, unvarnished
quality, while others are thorough productions.
Many of the tracks have an amazing
turnaround time, written, recorded and released
since the lockdown began.
The styles may vary greatly, but one
theme that seems to unite them is that of
comfort and soothing.
And it’s something that in these
uncertain times we seem to need more and more
and more of.
Favorites
include “Sereia Sentimental,” (LG002) by
Brazilian artist Sessa.
The Sao Paulo performer’s simple, nylon
guitar-led track features his romantic singing
(in Portuguese), and conjures up images of Jobim
in stately repose.
Chicago’s Matchess, the project of
violinist, singer and organist Whitney Johnson,
brings us the incredible “For Lise,” (LG003),
seven minutes of pure, deep trance-like
psychedelia. It’s
a dreamy and otherworldly gem.
Kikagaku
Moyo contributes “Ouichi Time” (LG004).
Meaning “time in the house,” the song was
recorded in their room in Tokyo and in
Amsterdam. The
band says “it was a good challenge for us to do
everything remotely.
We had to learn how to let our mind
escape to inner galaxy, and secretly made strong
connections with outer space.”
“Ouichi Time” is a mostly acoustic
number, featuring traditional Japanese
instruments and group singing.
Jorge Elbrecht’s “Tuesday Morning”
(LG006) is well-produced, hook-laden and
ultra-catchy, with the New York/LA/Costa Rica
producer playing all the instruments himself
except drums. His
The Cure meets Triptides approach makes for the
perfect slice of pop psych.
“Door
With No Sign” (LG008) by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma,
originally recorded in 2018, is six minutes of
transcendent calming, amorphous electronic
ambience, like clouds drifting across the
endless big sky.
Mary Lattimore delivers her gorgeous
harp’s dulcet tones with guitarist Paul Sukeena
on “Dreaming of the Kelly Pool” (LG009).
It’s an instrumental piece of sentimental
nostalgia recalling a public swimming pool in
the Philadelphia area both Lattimore and Sukeena
frequented in summers growing up; both now live
in Los Angeles.
LA-based
singer-songwriter Bedouine sings “All My Trials”
(LG011), which she recorded at home.
Her gentle folk-singing and lovely
acoustic guitar are a balm of serenity.
My favorite release so far has to be
Tonstartssbandht’s “Olde Feelings” (LG010).
It’s also the oldest song in the
collection, originally recorded in 2014, using
brothers Andy and Edwin White’s signature low-fi
sound. “Olde
Feelings” starts out all mellow stoned-out
slacker bliss. Midway
through, it turns on a dime into heavier psych
territory, vaguely resembling Rod Stewart’s
cover of The Temptations’ “(I Know) I’m Losing
You.” Well,
as sung by a freaky harmony tandem that sounds
all the better because it shouldn’t sound that
good at all. In
a classic DIY moment, you can actually hear Andy
White stop playing piano, pick up a guitar,
crank up the volume, and start wailing away.
Here’s
a tip of the cap to Mexican Summer for launching
Looking Glass. Most
of the songs are tremendous, especially when you
consider their recording limitations and how
quickly the artists and the label have been
turning them out.
The artists win, the listeners do, too,
and you may get introduced to a new artist or
two to love and explore some back catalogues.
(Mark
Feingold)
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THE
ROWAN AMBER MILL – AMONG THE GORSE TO SETTLE
SCORES
(CD/DL
from https://rowanambermill.bandcamp.com)
Taking its titular cue from ‘Rufford Park Poachers’ (the inspiration for
Percy Grainger’s ‘Lincolnshire Posy’ – don’t let
anyone tell you that Terrascope is anything less
than Reithian), Among
The
Gorse To Settle Scores features workings
of five traditional folk songs (one of which is
interpreted twice in acoustic and less acoustic
forms) and reunites Stephen Stannard (“The
Miller”), with singer Kim Guy following her 10
year hiatus from The Mill.
Unsurprisingly, then, the song that spawns the title finds a comfortable
niche here. It also typifies the fulsome
production values and fleshier, more sumptuous
instrumentation than that which graced the no
less welcome or gratifying Rowan: Morrison
collaboration with Angeline Morrison from a year
or so back. The result is an almost glossy, soft
rock sheen that permeates much of the rest of
what one should properly regard as a mini-album.
Timeless call to arms ‘The Blackleg Miner’ is less bellicose in its
delivery than the gold standard version by
Steeleye Span but the cadence and all-round
treatment (at once sprightly and gloomy if such
a thing is possible) is perfectly suited to
Guy’s delivery that is to say more gritty than
either Angeline’s or of Emily Jones, who graced
the marvellous spoof concept The
Book Of Lost a half a decade ago.
Dispensing with all of Stannard’s accompaniment,
Guy’s compelling, multi-tracked vocal pitches
‘Three Ravens’ into the realms of pagan cinema,
as delightfully eerie a treat as you could hope
to expect from a dirge of dark subject matter
without getting too down about it.
Two versions of ‘Black Is The Colour’ feature and which provide suitably
appealing bookends, including a swooning single
edit that hints of extensive exposure to ‘Nights
In White Satin’. It could of course be that the
old cabin fever has got to me in these days of
stricture but speeded up and given a reggae beat
it wouldn’t half complement ‘Declaration Of
Rights’ by the Abyssinians. Let’s leave that one
aside, possibly. This just leaves ‘Hares On The
Mountain’ which while still managing to convey
more than most versions would have been in
danger of drifting into a Radio 2 dry dock were
it not for some deft key changes and a nimble
execution.
There were concerns earlier this year from posts on social media that the
Mill was about to wind up operations. Thankfully
the old place seems to have given itself a
reprieve, at least for the time being, and what
better way to re-assert its credentials than
through the rustic charm of traditional song in
these hazy, lazy lockdown days. As the old song
goes ‘We Built This Village On Trad Arr’ and
I’ve just realised that I’ve gone a whole review
without mentioning that Stephen (with Angeline)
played such a mesmerising set at last year’s
Woolf II…oh!
(Ian
Fraser)
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SAM
MOSS – THREE OLDIES EP
(Digital
on Lost
Honey Records)
MONTEAGLE
–
A COLORFUL MOTH EP
(LP/Digital
on Fire
Talk Records)
Taking
a look at the latest from a couple of artists
whose previous LPs we loved, we have fine new
EPs from Sam Moss and Monteagle.
First
off, Sam Moss is the Boston-area folkie who last
gave us the beautiful album ‘Neon’ in 2018.
His finger-picking acoustic guitar style
and soft-spoken vocals bespeak a delightful old
soul who’s seen a great deal, knows you have,
too, and wants to share a moment of your time to
make that moment just a little better.
His short ‘Three Oldies’ EP includes
three traditional tunes Moss has pulled from his
bag for you.
“I
Drew My Ship” is a “night visiting” ballad
catalogued by John Stokoe in ‘Songs and Ballads
of Northern England’ in 1899.
It’s been recorded countless times
including by Eliza Carthy, June Tabor, and Colin
Meloy of The Decemberists, but Moss drew his
inspiration from a recording by Shirley Collins.
It’s a tale of a sailor who brings his
ship into harbor and knocks on the door of his
true love, but by the time she reaches the door,
the sailor (some say a ghost) is gone, back to
sea. “Long
John” is an instrumental Moss says he got from a
book of fiddle tunes.
I didn’t know he played the fiddle, but
there you are. Sam’s
fiddle playing could transport you equally to a
dusty front-porch in Appalachia, or a rustic
scene in Ireland.
Finally, “Engine 143” is a train wreck
ballad first recorded by the Carter Family in
1927, and a zillion other times, including by
Joan Baez, Townes Van Zandt, and Johnny Cash.
Based on an actual train wreck in West
Virginia in 1890, it tells of the engineer,
George Alley, who perished in the tragedy, but
died for the engine he loved.
Just
as the songs are timeless, Moss injects a
timelessness to the recording of Three Oldies.
It sounds as if it could’ve been recorded
yesterday or 80 years ago.
With his effortless playing and singing,
Sam gives you the feeling that it’s just him and
you, or maybe a small group of friends, out
somewhere around a fire, in some picturesque
natural twilight setting miles away from
civilization. Moss
has an even newer release out on cassette, ‘Rob
Noyes & Sam Moss,’ with Sam on fiddle for
the duration and Noyes on 12-string guitar.
It’s definitely worth a listen, but the
shorter ‘Three Oldies’ is the pick for me.
Monteagle
is Justin Giles Wilcox, the rural Tennessean
transplanted to Brooklyn, whose noirish psych
folk debut ‘Midnight Noon’ delighted us in 2018.
Wilcox’s expertise is in starting with a
folk melody on acoustic or electric guitar, then
in the production crafting so much sonic
atmosphere around it to draw you into that space
and wrap you in its soft arms.
He possesses some sort of magic hoodoo
about blending acoustic and electric guitars,
vocals, bass, light percussion and lots of
reverb in just the right stew.
Monteagle’s songs are as smooth as riding
an inner tube down a rolling river, despite
often dark themes.
‘A
Colorful Moth’ was borne of one of those dark
places, a period when he was feeling
particularly hopeless personally and
professionally, and the effect that something as
simple as seeing a moth on a park bench could
help bring his troubles sharply into focus and
finally, resolution.
The lyrics are stream-of-consciousness,
sometimes refer to hallucinogenic trips, and are
frankly often difficult to make out amidst the
swirling production floating all around Wilcox’s
fragile vocals.
Doesn’t matter.
This is a mood piece, and Monteagle’s
beautiful melodies and lush arrangements are
utterly irresistible, euphoric, and highly
addictive. This
EP is sensational.
Wilcox
says A Colorful Moth is a sibling to a
full-length album to be released in early 2021.
Mark that down as one more ray of hope to
cling to once we put this blasted year behind
us. If
you purchase A Colorful Moth on 19 June through
Bandcamp, Bandcamp will donate 100% of their
share of the sale to the NAACP Legal Defense
Fund, certainly a worthy cause.
(Mark
Feingold)
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SUNSHINE
WALKERS
- THE BEST OF KIMBERLEY REW AND LEE CAVE BERRY
(https://kimandlee.co.uk)
I’ve often thought of Kimberley Rew as a
latter-day Dave Edmunds - both steeped in rock
’n roll, both blisteringly good guitarists and
both having troubled the top end of the pop
charts from time to time. Rew is, however, by a
country mile or two the better composer (and I
daresay a good argument could be made for the
fact that Edmunds is a far more successful
record producer), and for those who like me
rather have shamefully failed to keep up with
Kim’s output in recent years this is a very
welcome, not to say essential, compilation.
Away from the glitz and glamour of the
Eurovision Song Contest - his song ‘Love Shine a
Light’ in aid of the Samaritans charity won that
for Britain in 1997 - Kimberley Rew is arguably
best known to Terrascope readers as a member of
the Soft Boys from 1978 to 1981 and subsequently
the Waves (latterly Katrina and the Waves, of
Eurovision fame) from 1981 to 1999. Nigel Cross’
masterful sleeve-notes tease out the story of
Kim’s progression from “coiffured young buck in
the early Soft Boys wrenching bursts of feedback
squall from his Gibson SG” to establishing his
own identity as a distinctive song-writer and
arranger with a “refreshing wide-eyed pop
sensibility… power-pop that owed as much to Ian
Samwell and Lionel Bart as it did to Big Star or
the Raspberries” - and beyond to the Waves, who
broke up in 1999, to Kimberley’s solo career,
and his work with, for and alongside Lee
Cave-Berry.
My own copy of Kimberley’s immediate
post-Soft Boys collection The Bible of Bop’ from
1982 is as well-worn as you’d expect of a
much-loved record that’s approaching 30 years
old, so the fact that this CD includes ‘Hey War
Pig’ (with the Waves), ‘Stomping All Over The
World’ (with the Soft Boys) and ‘My Baby Does
Her Hair-do Long’ (with the dBs) from that EP is
much appreciated, the only niggle being that my
own personal favourite ‘Fighting Someone’s War’
is absent; understandable however when there is
just so much more gold to be mined from the rich
seam that is Kimberley’s back catalogue; and as
Nigel rightly points out there are plenty of
compilations out there already showcasing the
Soft Boys and Katrina & the Waves in any
case. So, a new compilation that concentrates on
his solo career and material that Kim has
produced with his partner, the distinctive,
multi-talented bassist
and singer Lee Cave-Berry, is
particularly welcome. Of note are the
trio of Kimberley Rew solo albums ‘Tunnel into
Summer’, (2000) ‘Great Central Revisited’ (2002)
and ‘Essex Highway’ (2005) which reveal a strong
sense of concern for the British countryside and
way of life (‘English Road’ is the
representative cut on this collection), the
title track from a personal favourite ‘The
Safest Place’ (2010); the music-hall charm of
‘Bloody Old England’ (think Martin Newell meets
Chas ’n’ Dave), one of two cuts lifted from the
wittily titled ‘Healing Broadway’ (2013); and
the various recordings released both with Lee,
and on Lee’s own solo releases featuring Kim,
including the brilliant ‘Yours Truly’ (from the
2003 album ‘Spring Forward’) with its fabulous
guitar licks. Talking of which, the highlight of
the whole set for me has to be ‘Flower
Superpower’ (from 2014’s ‘The Next Big
Adventure’) which features some absolutely
spine-tingling wah-wah guitar that, as Nigel
sagely notes, reveals Kimberley can hold his
head up in the company of his big influences,
Hendrix, Clapton & Green.
Wry, witty, charming, catchy, exquisitely
produced and yet cutting right through to the
nub of things with razor-sharp guitar licks and
irresistible melodies, these songs deserve to
heard again. And again.
(Phil McMullen)
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MUGSTAR
AND DAMO SUZUKI – INVISIBLE WIND FACTORY (LP
on Weird
Beard Records)
Back
in those distant days of live music in packed,
sweaty rooms I remember attending this concert
with fellow Terrascope scribe, the illustrious
Ian Fraser who if I remember rightly enjoyed or
perhaps more accurately endured a lengthy and
unexpectedly confusing taxi ride across
Liverpool that nearly made him late for it (I’m
sure his autobiography will explain more about
this adventure at some point). Part of the 2018
Wrong Festival at Liverpool’s Invisible Wind
Factory (any schoolboy humour will be punished,
or at least punned) and other nearby venues,
this set was one of the absolute highlights of a
fine day of psychedelic rock.
Mugstar
and Damo are no strangers to each other having
shared a stage and recordings before this gig
and their mutual pleasure in working with each
other is clear to see and hear. It’s a pretty
impressive marriage between Mugstar, one of the
most interesting bands working today in the
field of inventive and exploratory psych and
space rock and one of the most iconic vocalists
in the history of Krautrock who still crams in
an eclectic and busy worldwide schedule of
collaboration and free improvisation projects.
Weird
Beard have generously provided us with the
chance to relive the full forty or so minutes of
a dynamic and memorable set, a wide ranging
improvisation taking in many diverse twists and
turns on its path. Underpinned by a solid yet
varied rhythmic platform, Mugstar create a
musical canvas where light and shade is created
through guitars that shimmer and soar,
compelling and memorable riffs that propel where
needed and feed melodic ideas providing texture,
colour and contrast. There are generous servings
of driving motorik, touches of desolate
spaghetti western landscapes, flashbacks to
echoing and tense early eighties psychedelia
tinged new wave and Stooge-like energetic and
exhilarating solos and riff fuelled sprints
which come and go through the set keeping it
varied, unpredictable and most importantly
exciting. Using this canvas, Damo Suzuki treats
us to his full array of vocal talents, sometimes
leading the music to new places and sometimes
responding to the challenge set by Mugstar. At
times harking back to the wailing improvisatory
style of his Can days, sometimes growling like
Tom Waits and then crooning like Scott Walker
(or even Ian McCullough) at his most desolate
and experimental, Damo’s chameleon like and
indeed unique approach to singing is
demonstrated at its very best here.
You
can see some good videos of this set on YouTube
but there is something to be said for letting
the audio pleasures on offer speak for
themselves. I really enjoyed the set as a punter
but this well recorded vinyl time capsule is
already offering up some new delights unheard in
the general hubbub of the crowd on the night and
is pretty much essential listening for any fans
of Mugstar, Damo or indeed of high quality and
inventive improvised or psychedelic rock.
Strongly recommended for your audio pleasure.
(Francis Comyn)
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SLOATH
– III (LP
on Riot
Season Records)
Sloath
could be said to be one of the country’s more
enigmatic and mysterious bands. Formed in 2007,
this is only their third full length release and
their first since 2014’s ‘Deep Mountain’. Rarely
seen live and with band members currently
resident across Europe this burst of energy and
high profile would indeed seem to be a rare
occurrence on a par with astronomical
occurrences and meetings of the Preston Guild
that is worthy of attention.
‘III’
indeed keeps the enigmatic theme going with this
new recording (although I’m sure there must be
many discarded album titles since 2014) and is a
powerful, metallic record taking in elements of
doom and stoner metal but with some interesting
psychedelic tinges and indeed melodic twists.
We
get six tracks where fuzz and feedback abound
but also a lot of invention. ‘Big Shift’ starts
things off with a crunching slowed down Sabbath
style riff and disembodied, sometimes distorting
vocals floating above repetitive hammering
guitars and drums. ‘Rewengue’ follows with a
burst of distorted vocal noise before an almost
prog like metallic riff takes the tempo up ever
so slightly. Vocal moans and yelps are
improvised over the intense, repetitive yet
driving riff, howling feedback and more
intricate percussive colours that comprise the
musical trip, akin in many ways to superior
heavy Japanese psych. ‘Special Force’ has a
dynamic and complex metallic riff that once
again adds a touch of raw progressive rock to
the mix albeit with scalding feedback and
distortion drenched screams and guitars taking
the music to an exhilarating higher place. ‘The
Piece’ has an almost stately fuzz drenched
opening where the melody slowly unfurls into a
more brooding, atmospheric experimental piece
based on a loosely held together exploration of
the established theme laced with distorted free
guitar and feedback. ‘The Beast’ is more
conventional and indeed shorter metallic piece
with vocal swoops and hollers once again flying
overhead before a squally and somewhat crazed
guitar solo that takes us to the end. To finish
‘The Whistler’ is a lengthy slow burning
exploration of a fuzzy melody with a faint
Satie-esque reference occasionally weaving its
way into the improvisation. It’s a very dynamic
track with a wonderful sense of control. It
balances drone, use of noise and feedback and
melody in an improvisation full of power yet
with an equal abundance of nuance, colour and
texture.
This
is a fine record and an excellent showcase for
inventive metallic music which doesn’t simply
rely on noise, power and heavy riffs to make its
mark. Fans of Black Sabbath, Earth and Sleep
will find much to enjoy and for the casual psych
warrior who likes doom without the gloom, I can
highly recommend this record too. Let’s hope we
see and hear more from Sloath before 2026.
(Francis Comyn)
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CUSTARD
FLUX -OXYGEN
LP/DL
(https://custardflux.bandcamp.com/)
Whether
it is renovating his home, painting a mural,
decorating a guitar or, indeed, creating a
collection of psych pop tunes, Gregory Curvey
puts his artistic soul into the project. On
this, the third album from Custard Flux, the
task was made harder by the current Covid-19
restrictions which meant recording between the
musicians was done remotely, files shared and
finally mixed. The other remarkable thing about
the album is that almost all the instruments are
acoustic, something that does not seem apparent
when you listen, the songs sparkling with an
electricity all of their own making, with the
saxophone of Mars Williams really shining
throughout.
Opening track “Oxygen/Gelatinous Mass”
has a nagging guitar line that creeps about in
your head sounding like The Dukes of
Stratosphear with a hint of Plasticland, that is
until the song morphs into the gelatinous mass
part, presumably, the tune transformed into a
much spacier thing as the spirit of Bloomdido
Bad De grass is revealed within the saxophone
playing, a fine and groovy way to start. On “You
Can't Get Away” a Violin leads the dance for
another rousing song that floats away downstream
beautifully.
Topical and rather lovely, “Quarantyne”
deals with the current pandemic in a personal
way, echoing all our hopes, fears and confusion
in three jangly minutes. Continuing the jangle,
“Monster Island” is a sprightly instrumental
which takes you eight miles high before
parachuting you straight into the paisley swirl
of “I
Feed The Fire”, a crazy psychedelic dream of a
song that is a definite highlight for me. Mind
you from here on in the album explodes into
joyful life with “She Opens Her Eyes” proving to
be a future psych classic, that got wedged in my
cranium the first time I heard it, whilst
“innocence and Peppermint” (ho ho) is a gentler
affair that softens its surrounding, a little
reprise before the eight plus minutes of
“Capacity Overload” strolls in and takes
control, a rambling space rock workout that
channels the spirit of Steve Hillage in the
seventies, the music dancing beautifully across
hazy summer skies leading you into sunset and
the rising moon, the guitar undoubtedly plugged
in and aiming for heaven.
That would be a perfect place to end
the album, but we are also treated to two bonus
tracks, an alternative mix of “She Opens Her
Eyes” which sounds just fine to me and “I'm
Feeling Much Better”, another sprightly siong
that takes us out on an optimistic high.
I reckon this is an album I am going to
return to often. Yes it's slightly retro and you
can probably say you have heard it all before,
but there is an energy and presence to the
collection that gives a fresh shimmering coat of
happiness that I really like, especially
right now as the sun shines on my garden (Simon
Lewis)
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THE
17th DREAM OF
DR SARDONICUS – LIVE
www.fruitsdemerrecrords.com
Double Vinyl LP
Some
fine bands and artists once again convened on
the cellar Bar in Cardigan Bay, way out west in
Wales for the yearly three day festival of all
things psych. Keith Jones the label owner and
basically sole proprietor of the widely
collected Fruits de Mer record label has turned
this into an annual event, which unfortunately
this year has had to be held over until next
year, still we have this fine double album to
listen to during the hiatus.
Things
kick off with a rather beautiful folky acoustic
song from a new name to me Sarah Birch here
performing ‘Reverence’, picked out on acoustic
guitar and achingly gorgeous violin, a very
gentle way to start proceedings. Mark McDowell
and Friends appear next with ‘Starstreamer’, a
bubbling synth infested space rock instrumental
with a laconic beat, sitar flourishes lend it an
eastern vibe, so east meets west then, colliding
together and weaving a merry dance, one thing to
note is the sound is excellent, clear and not at
all muddy as can often be the case with live
albums, so hats off to the sound engineer here.
The Alan Pire Experience deliver a fine version
of ‘Lazin’ In The Afternoon’, a crunchy sixties
flavoured rock song imbued with some excellent
lead guitar passages.
The
Groundhogs are now performing under the name of
Ken Pustelnik’s Groundhogs. Here they perform
‘The Garden’, a bluesy rocker with a few tricky
time changes, some fierce slide guitar action
too. Side two starts with a delicate song from a
major new discovery for the label Elfin Bow,
lead by Elizabeth Anne Jones, a dead ringer for
Sandy Denny in the vocal department, here she
performs Steve Marriott’s ‘Autumn Stone’, a
piano led ballad. The rest of the side is taken
up by the Fellowship Of Hallucinatory Voyagers
delivering an expansive ‘Taith Yr Afon Teiffi’,
seeing that a lot of these bands think nothing
of playing twenty minute intro’s to their songs
it must be a bit of a challenge picking out
which ones to include from their sets, this one
starts quite slowly before heading off into the
cosmos, guitars, keys and flutes all tangle
together into a fairly heady trip.
Side
three sees The Chemistry Set performing their
cover of the old Hendrix song ‘Love Or
Confusion’, again it is an east meets west
extravaganza, it’s a kind of acoustic blues but
with a droning sitar. The rest of the side is
taken up with festival hosts Sendelica here
performing ‘Nine Miles High’, by now you know
what to expect, plenty of saxophone, lead guitar
and keys, all anchored by a super tight rhythm
section, while the various lead instruments head
off into the ether, leaving chemtrails across
the firmament. Side four sees Lancashire’s Three
Dimensional Tanx with ‘Racing Car # 9’,
stretching their punky track to a whole four
minutes plus, no mean feat since most of their
songs barely break the two minute mark. Moon
Goose whose debut album is excellent, are next
up with ‘Second Life’, it’s nice to hear a live
version of a song taken from that album by them,
they duly space rock it up. The album ends with
a band that will need no introduction to
Terrascope readers, Nick Saloman’s Bevis Frond,
here they duly deliver the goods, lifting up the
rafters, with an outstanding version of ‘Pale
Blue Blood’.
(Andrew Young)
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RICHARD
DAVIES & THE DISSIDENTS - HUMAN TRAFFIC
Bucketfull
Of Brains CD/DL
www.bucketfullofbrains.net
After
quite a few years as a dependable gun for hire
to various artists , along with being a member
of two bands The Snakes and Tiny Monroe, Richard
Davies [not THE Richard
Davies - Ed.] has now put his own band
together, to flesh out a bunch of songs which he
has been accumulating.
The
album is a classic blue collar rock album with
plenty of attitude, the kind of album for
cranking up on a long drive; it has shades of
Americana, the kind played by Green On Red’s
Chuck Prophet and Dan Stuart, especially their
Danny And Dusty outings. There are plenty of
tough, sinuous lead guitar breaks which are
injected at all the right moments, the rhythm
section propel them along, tight and supportive,
with plenty of organ and piano filling out the
spaces adding extra texture.
Given
enough exposure I feel it would do very well for
them, with a couple of potential hits in ‘Way Of
The Wild’ and ‘Echo Road’.
It’s all very radio friendly in a good
way. The songs are a mix of autobiographical;
some are about other people and some about life,
real life. Richard has supported some big names
over the years, like Radiohead, Suede and The
Pretenders as well as playing with the Pistol’s
Glen Matlock and Peter Perrett of The Only Ones.
For some reason I’m also reminded of early
Boomtown Rats in the vocal department, probably
through a similar intonation to Bob; and that’s
the thing, it is British, so one could also
mention classic Mott The Hoople here.
Richard
also turns in a very tasty cover of Alejandro
Escovedo’s ‘Heartbeat Smile’. I can also see the
connection with the great Austin, Texas band
‘Wild Seeds’ and Alejandro’s previous band ‘True
Believers’. Here he also revisits ‘Under The
Skin’ a song from his Tiny Monroe days, which he
stuffs full of tasty lead guitar breaks.
The album ends with the full swagger of
‘No Man’s Land’, if you are looking for a well
played rock album that is tight and lean with no
fat on the bones, one where the guitars really
bite and sting throughout then you could do a
lot worse than this, highly recommended.
(Andrew Young)
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THE
GREAT WHITE DAP – VILLAGE
THING 50TH ANNIVERSARY
Ghosts
From The Basement 6 track CD EP www.ghostsfromthebasement.bandcamp.com
A
6 track EP celebrating the Bristol label The
Village Thing. The releases from this label have
become very collectible over the last few years
and originals in good condition are a scarcity
and change hands for eye watering sums. A
concert and an accompanying tribute album were
planned, but the pandemic has put paid to that
and instead Ian has had a trawl through his
archives.
For
this EP we have Wizz Jones performing ‘When I
Leave Berlin’, recorded in 1973 from the album
of the same name When I Leave Berlin, on this
track he is ably supported by the folk band Lazy
Farmer whose own album is also highly desirable.
Label owner Ian A Anderson highlights his song
‘Time Is Ripe’, which hails from 1971 and is
taken from his album A Vulture Is Not A Bird You
Can Trust performed solo. The old classic ‘Deep
Ellum Blues’, is performed here by Derroll Adams
with harp and lilting banjo, it dates from 1972
and is taken from his Feelin’ Fine album. Steve
Tiltson with Dave Evans performing ‘What Would
You Be’, is an unreleased gem, recorded in 1971,
I have no idea why this is only just seeing the
light of day now as it is very good. The sorely
missed Al Jones is next with a short song
entitled ‘Tell The Captain’, from his excellent
Jonesville album. The EP ends with a track by
The Sun Also Rises called ‘Flowers’, a
centrepiece of their rare album of the same
name.
Also
released is an album, again on CD which collects
together some of the recordings made by Orchestre
Super Moth – The World At Sixes And Sevens, which
were available
in the late 80’s on 12”, plus a new remix by the
imagined Village, also included is a lo fi folk
psych number by the English world music folk
dance band. It starts with a polka to warm us
up, in the form of ‘Radio Polka International’.
Bob Dylans ‘New Pony’, is performed here by
Maggie Holland on vocals, with accordionist
extraordinaire Flaco Jimenez, John Moore lead
guitar, Ian on slide with John Maxwell drums and
Rod Stradling adding vocals and melodeon. A
light, cod reggae inflected ‘Salt Of The Earth,’
continues the world theme, with a couple of
African musicians Dembo Conte and Kausu Kuyateh
playing Kora and adding spicy vocals. ‘Lone Wolf
Blues’, is an early Texan blues transported to a
damp southern England and sounds terrific. ‘Sloe
Banga’, is an excellent township jive dance
number during which you will be hard pressed to
keep your feet still, the original is on the
Howling Moth album by Ian’s band Tiger Moth here
it is given the Afro Celt System treatment. The
disc ends with ‘The Duchess Dressed In Blue’, a
live number from a reconvened Tiger Moth who got
together to play a couple of times at the
Sidmouth Folk festival and this is the one that
they ended their sets with, coming up with a new
genre psycheceilidelia!
(Andrew Young)
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ANTON
BARBEAU - KENNY Vs
THRUST
Big
Stir Records www.bigstirrecords.com
CD/DL
The
very prolific
Sacramento born artist Anton, a resident of
Berlin these last years, is back
with another eclectic collection of songs. This
time he has decided to revisit
some of the songs from his quite extensive back
catalogue, utilising a couple
of different backing bands Sacramento’s Kenny
and the English band Thrust.
Kenny consists of Anton along with Kevin
Allison, Tom Monson and Jeff Simons
and Thrust consists of Anton along with Matt
Sewell, Jules Moss and Richard
Nash.
Proceedings
start
with ‘Wire From The Wall’, a fairly
straightforward skewed pop song, this is
followed by ‘Land Of Economy’ a politically
themed musing from his Midnight Oil
days, I say political but it is just as
ecologically themed with some
tremendous fluid guitar from Kevin. ‘Beautiful
Bacon Dream’ is as eclectic as
ever and inspired by the crunchy Soft Boys song
Salamander (Anton has recorded
with various Robyn Hitchcock alumni over the
last few years). It’s a cool
fairly nonsensical song infused with much twang
and foggy mellotron moves. He
appears unadorned by either set of musicians for
‘Jingle Jangle’, recorded with
cheap 12 string Chinese guitars which duly ring
out over the various
instruments all played by Anton, complete with a
short sharp solo and throwaway
lyrics.
‘Clean
Clothes In
A Dirty Bag’, a travelling musician’s common
dilemma, written whilst touring
Spain, it is another slightly political song
about guns and dumb Americans,
signed off by Karla Kane of fellow label mates
The Corner Laughers. And so to
‘Haunted In Fenland’, informed by the strange
scenes, real or imagined, at Soft
Boy’s guitarist Kimberley Rew’s wedding
reception, and probably the only song
to rhyme headbands with Fenlands. ‘Back To
Balmain’, is the oldest song on the
album, written when he was an 18 year old
obsessed by Kate Bush of all people,
all cheap synths, rotating swirling leslie’d
guitar, plus some blistering fuzzy
lead guitar breaks too, nice.
‘Popsong
99’, is a
skewed pop song with some interesting time
changes, swirling synths and fuggy
rhythms, love the sound of the squealing
mosquito guitar. ‘Tidy Up Yourself’,
is a humorous mock reggae song, a play on
‘lively up yourself’ with some
playful lyrics, about, well, untidy bathers and
tidying shelves, oh and Leo
Sayer of all people. ‘Mahjong Dijon’, is not
about a Chinese mother making some
mustard, but is pretty bonkers and again shows
his love of words. The album
ends with ‘Burning Burning’, one of his
favourite songs from his second Allson
Seconds record. (Andrew Young)
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