I misread the tags written on the Bandcamp page for The Soft Collapse to be a single line description: "sweet Brooklyn bedroom pop" . The band themselves - Ryan Montgomery and Dave Teufel – prefer "mellow cello rock". And both give you a pretty accurate indication of what to expect on their debut album self-released on 1 January this year (a form of New Year’s Resolution?).
“Little Songs” is a collection of baroque folk-pop love songs delivered with a graceful simplicity and a patient eye for biographical detail. Another tag suggests ‘anti-folk’ but The Soft Collapse are a world away from the caustic screeching of fellow New Yorkers The Moldy Peaches. Instead there is a gentle grandeur in the sedate dance between voice, acoustic guitar and cello (remarkably all recorded live). Montgomery’s vocals fall somewhere between the confessionals of Elliott Smith (but not as pained or doomed) and the rich introspective baritone of The National’s Matt Berninger (but not as gravelly). Actually Matt Berninger’s contribution to the chamber classicism of the last Clogs album is another good pointer of what to expect here – just a touch more restrained and stripped down.
“Little Songs” is a quiet and intense listen that can be a bit samey and somnambulant over the 12 tracks if you don’t pay it full attention to pick out its subtle inflections and changes of pace. The jaunty ode to NY street wandering on ‘City Ramblin’’ or the wry optimism of ‘All I Can Hope To Create’ contrast with the sombre intensity of ‘Heart of Hearts’ or ‘Honey on Toast’. Elsewhere ‘Black on Black on Black on Black’ tilts towards country-noir whilst conforming to the rule that any song referencing Johnny Cash can only be good.
The Soft Collapse have recently added drummer Rob Galgano and a second vocalist, Jane Cramer to their line-up and are already working on album number two. Will be interesting to see where they take their 'mellow cello rock' next. “Little Songs” is available on iTunes, CD Baby or on a name-your-price basis on Bandcamp.
Chris Knox is a significant figure in New Zealand music history – as well as leading Tall Dwarfs in the 80s and 90s, it was his four-track machine that was used to record most of the early Flying Nun records. In June 2009, he suffered a stroke aged 56. In November 2009 “Stroke: Songs For Chris Knox” was released. This double CD is a 33 track tribute with a host of artists performing Knox's songs. Another do-good charity record you may say, with shrugged shoulders.
True all proceeds from the record and associated activities go to support Knox’s rehabilitation in his home town of Grey Lynn, New Zealand. But several things make this a remarkable and not just worthy record. First is the speed in which it was assembled and released. The second, which makes the first all the more impressive, is the list of contributors. A veritable roll-call of alt-rock royalty, both American (Yo La Tengo, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Bill Callahan, The Mountain Goats, Lou Barlow, The Magnetic Fields, Lambchop) and Antipodean (The Bats, The Chills, The Verlaines), alongside lesser known associates and acolytes, who have stepped up to give their time freely to this project. Given this diverse sprawl of bands, it is then also remarkable that the quality throughout is so consistently high – no filler here – and that Knox’s fractured lo-fi pop proves malleable enough to fit the disparate styles of the performers (you’d swear ‘Lapse’ was a Bill Callahan original). And even in the off-the-cuff performances - John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats performing straight to tape with intro addressed to Knox personally – what comes through is the reverence and respect felt for Knox.
And then there’s Knox’s songs themselves. The album presents the songs chronologically starting out with Knox’s early bands The Enemy and Toy Love and finishing up with his post-Tall Dwarfs solo material. I have a couple of Tall Dwarfs records but this collection made me realise how little of their material I know. And whether early or late in his song-writing career, they are consistently excellent, even the more wayward and experimental moments. And also heart-stopping; particularly ‘Becoming Something Other’- sung here by Jordan Luck – which documents the effects of Knox’s father’s degenerative brain disease. Powerful stuff.
And one more final remarkable element: the album features the JD Salinger of alt-rock Neutral Milk Hotel’s Jeff Mangum, not only here on record to play ‘Sign The Dotted Line’ but also appearing at the May 2009 fund-raising concert in New York alongside Yo La Tengo, Sharon van Etten, Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio and many more. Cameras were banned but the Stroke website pulls together several pieces of crowd footage of the event.
A remarkable collection then and of great significance for Chris Knox personally and for his music too. I’m not sure this ever got a UK release but it can be ordered from Merge Records in the US or from Amplifier in NZ or via Amazon UK.
Final words from the Stroke website “Stay obscure long enough, and people might just cry when they finally hear you play”
As December 2010 bucked the trend for a festive month scant of good gigs, so does January 2011 in Manchester. A month that normally takes a good couple of weeks to warm up for live music kicks off tomorrow with this excellent gig presented by Humble Soul, pairing the Welsh psyche-pop of Colorama with the komische country-rock of Walton Hesse. The week then continues with the first Manchester Scenewipe club night at Fuel on Friday and then two nights in the Northern Quarter to choose from: Underachievers Please Try Harder at Gullivers or the Carefully Planned All Dayer at The Castle.
That's an impressive few days of live music by anyone's standard let alone the chilly first week of a new year. As ever a mixtape [49 mins / 56 MB] of bands playing Manchester this month to help inform your gig-going decision-making - link in the post below this one.
Manchester Gigs in Music Mixtape: January 2011
Ghost Outfit I Was Good When I Was Young [2.39] (29 Jan Gullivers BUY TICKETS) The Walkmen Blue As Your Blood [6.49] (20 Jan Methodist Central Hall BUY TICKETS) Beat The Radar 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 [10.01] (7 Jan Fuel Cafe Bar BUY TICKETS) Eagulls Terms and Conditions [14.32] (29 Jan Gullivers BUY TICKETS) Sleigh Bells Tell ‘Em [17.27] (21 Jan Deaf Institute BUY TICKETS) Tennis Marathon [20.07] (21 Jan Deaf Institute BUY TICKETS) Spectrals It’s OK (Not To Be OK) [22.07] (29 Jan The Castle BUY TICKETS) Patterns Broken Trains [25.47] (7 Jan Fuel Cafe Bar BUY TICKETS) Twin Shadow Tyrant Destroyed [29.16] (26 Jan Deaf Institute BUY TICKETS) Smoke Fairies Erie Lackawanna [33.41] (26 Jan Ruby Lounge BUY TICKETS) Colorama Dere Mewn [36.13] (5 Jan The Castle BUY TICKETS) The Burns Unit Trouble [39.38] (19 Jan Club Academy BUY TICKETS) Allo Darlin’ If Loneliness Was Art [43.06] (29 Jan Night & Day BUY TICKETS) Walton Hesse Under The Plough [46.43] (5 Jan The Castle BUY TICKETS) Justin Townes Earle Harlem River Blues [49.33] (14 Jan Deaf Institute BUY TICKETS)
The week between Christmas and New Year is a curious limbo, a piece of dead time between two great blow-outs - or two great anti-climaxes depending on your viewpoint. It is also a week barren of any gigs or live music. So hats off to ATP for flying Sonic Youth over to play two sold-out shows, tonight’s in Manchester and then New Year’s Eve in London.
Opening tonight and playing tomorrow in London were The Pop Group re-formed earlier this year thirty years after breaking up. Four-fifths of the band appear to be original members – with a young buck (second generation?) on second guitar. The appearance of the band may be cosy middle-age (crisp white shirts fully buttoned up, distinguished greying hair and the drummer looks to be wearing reading glasses) but their explosive dub-leaning post-punk remains angry – very angry – and surprisingly vital. So much so there are many young pretenders and latter-day copyists who need to be shown this is how it is done. I wonder if The Pop Group ever played to 2000 people in their heyday?
It’s over a decade since I last saw Sonic Youth. This and seeing over 20 guitars racked up on either side of the stage during The Pop Group’s set only increased anticipation for tonight’s gig. First on stage is Thurston Moore who still looks in his early twenties. Beanpole thin, checked shirt, messy fringe flopped over his eyes, he playfully punches the mic as he strides across the stage. Kim Gordon is equally arresting: figure-hugging off-one-shoulder gold dress and black leggings which has the crowd – literally - gasping. It is difficult to credit these two are in their fifties.
The set is largely made up of last year’s album “The Eternal” plus a few trips down memory lane – specifically from 1987’s ‘Sister’ and 1988’s “Daydream Nation” with a storming final ‘Death Valley ‘69’. ‘Antenna’, dedicated to Ari Up, was a highlight with a middle section in which Lee Renaldo and Thurston Moore indulged – but not excessively – in trading improvised bending of guitar notes. Despite the two pauses (cock-ups by drummer Steve Shelley?), the cartoon-punk-shriek of “(I Gotta) Catholic Block” leaves me grinning from ear to ear. But the biggest roars of the evening were reserved for the first of four encores ‘The Sprawl’ and ‘Cross The Breeze’.
As long as you knew “The Eternal” this was a well-balanced set, avoiding any excessive navel-gazing experimentation, and with the band equally at ease playing twenty year old songs as well as newer material. Sonic Youth may have become an institution but they are still achingly cool, remain frighteningly ageless and are down-to-earth and savvy enough tonight to suggest tonight’s crowd should head to Islington Mill for its New Year’s Eve Party. An evening to remind me of all the right reasons why Sonic Youth are such an significant and loved band. Dear ATP, can we do this every year between Christmas and New Year’s Eve please?
The Set List:
No Way Sacred Trickster Calming The Snake Tom Violence Walkin Blue Leaky Lifeboat Poison Arrow Anti-Orgasm Antenna (I Gotta A) Catholic Block Stereo Sanctity What We Know Massage The History --- The Sprawl Cross The Breeze --- White Cross Death Valley ‘69
Inspired by Hey Manchester’s Top 20 Gigs of 2010 I decided for the first time here to attempt my own list. I’ve never done this as I knew I could not isolate the single gig in a year that was better than any other – each have their own moments or certain songs that make them special in their own right. So, despite reading that best of year lists bear all the hallmarks of the coping strategies of a nine year old, and not in any ranking, here are my most memorable gigs or performances of the year.
Belle & Sebastian @ Manchester Apollo in December
The Besnard Lakes + Alcoholic Faith Mission @ Dulcimer in March
British Sea Power @ Sing Ye From The Hillsides (Saturday) in May
Jens Lekman @ Deaf Institute + then after-show performance@ Sand Bar in August
The Low Anthem @ End of the Road Festival in September
Megafaun @ Green Man Festival in August
Sweet Baboo @ Green Man Festival (Saturday and Sunday) in August
The Tallest Man On Earth @ St Philips Church in November
Tune-Yards @ Ruby Lounge in February
Y Niwl, Young British Artists, Maladies of Bellafontaine etc @ Cloud Sounds + Red Deer Club in December
Withered Hand is Dan Willson, an Edinburgh-based anti-folk musician and visual artist. All this year I had brief encounters with some of Withered Hand’s music (a compilation including the track ‘Providence’, Woodpigeon covering ‘No Cigarettes’ at End Of The Road festival) but it took this Christmas to finally unite me with debut album “Good News”, 14 months after it was first released on SL Records.
“Good News” is made up of ten poignant and pained confessionals all delivered through Willson’s plaintive little-boy-lost vocals. However there are very adult themes and emotions on display here: conflicted feelings about religion and sex and a constant sense of failure run through the entire record. When Willson sings "So I broke another of the Ten Commandments" as the opening line of ‘Cornflake’ it is more with a heavy sense of disappointment and rejection rather than rebellion. In ‘Religious Songs’ some choir-boy naivety creeps in - "I don’t really know what the wine was for / Cos if it was Jesus blood wouldn’t there be more?" - but this is a rare example. For mostly, this choir boy has seen and experienced too much of the blemished lives and flawed intentions of the grown-up world. How many other ‘choir boys’ would then go on to sing in the same ‘religious’ song "I beat myself off when I sleep on your futon / I walk in the rain with my second hand suit on"?
Willson performs as part of a four-piece band: cello by Hannah Shepherd; banjo, ukulele, harmonium by Neil Pennycook; drums by Alun Thomas; and on this album backing vocals from Jo Foster and Bart Eagleowl (a line-up which is a mini-Rock Family Tree of several branches of the Edinburgh music scene). The delicate orchestration they bring to these quiet anthems is lovingly played - and the whole beautifully mixed by Kramer of Galaxie 500 and Low fame, a master of making quiet music sound immediate and full of contained energy. It is as ravishing to listen to as it is heart-wrenching to follow the heart-on-sleeve lyrics.
For all the sense of sitting on fences, failing and fucking up, there is also an undercurrent of elation. It might not be as explicit as hope but there are expressions of love mixed in with darker sentiments in ‘Providence’, ‘New Dawn’ and ‘I Am Nothing’. And there is a clarion call of community and celebration in the final song ‘For The Maudlin’: “This song is for the strugglers, for the cynics and the maudlin / This song is for the poor boy, I won’t be there in the morning”. As with the rest of the album, nothing is ever black or white; Willson manages to undercut this rallying cry in the final line “I won’t be there in the morning / No, I’ll be asleep on the overnight bus”.
Each year I spend an inordinate amount of time working out my top albums of the year. This month might have been all about everyone’s 2010 lists but upon hearing “Good News” I need to go back and revise my 2009 Top Ten.
At the end of January, Withered Hand is touring Scotland and North East England supporting Woodpigeon, visiting Aberdeen, Aviemore, Stornoway, Inverness, Glasgow, Durham, Middlesbrough, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Stirling. Sounds like an unmissable double-bill. “Good News” indeed.
It’s Christmas week and there’s still plenty of good new music being released. In fact Manchester’s Piccadilly Records said this week that they couldn’t recall a December in which so much quality, non-Christmas, music had been issued. I’ve talked about some Christmas music that doesn’t sound seasonal already this week so before I succumb to 48 hours of ditties about snow and tinsel and sleigh-rides here is a record released this week that is most definitely not Christmas music and if anything belongs to the summer.
Shimmering Stars are a late twenty-something four-piece based in Vancouver. They started out playing – of course - in the singer’s parents’ garage. Their debut four-song single is out this week in the UK (last month in North America). It’s not quite a record of two halves but there are two distinct groupings of tunes. The titles alone of three of the songs - ‘Let It Be Me’, ‘Believe’ and ‘I’m Gonna Try’ - tap into that late 50s pop sound where youthful dreams and innocent desires were first given a voice in popular culture. And the songs themselves match this – short bursts of yearning romance and reverbed guitar and sugar-spun harmonies with crackling, fuzzy edges. If ‘I’m Gonna Try’ didn’t possess that echoing reverb that signals a contemporary band taking on a decades earlier sound, you’d put money on it being The Everly Brothers.
Then in the other camp is lead song ‘East Van Girls’ which shrugs off some of the innocence and replaces it with darker, edgy guitars and a heavier sixties garage vibe. Even at a slender 1 minutes and 47 seconds it’s a joyous slice of garage-pop and a great foil to its companion songs. The 7” vinyl is limited to 300 copies worldwide and in a neat piece of serendipity, Piccadilly Records is one of the places where you can get your hands on a copy. Shimmering Stars are completing their debut album due for release in March 2011.
With a name conjuring up US Depression-era mutual banks, this Scottish duo actually trade in a different kind of depression and austerity. “Today I Need Light”, the debut album from The Savings and Loan, is nine tracks of sparse but richly gothic chamber-folk that calls to mind the dark ruminations of Willard Grant Conspiracy’s Robert Fisher. The set- up of singer-songwriter Martin Donnelly and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bush supported by a changing cast of players on brass, strings and pedal steel mimics the loose nature and sound of the Boston-born collective . However The Savings and Loan describe their songs as “resolutely Glaswegian, touched as they are by that city's twin obsessions of drink and religion”.
Donnelly’s voice is less doom-laden and gruff than Fisher’s but many lyrical motifs are familiar: storms and trials, sundowns and sunrises, bibles and angels. It’s elemental and foreboding and it-ain’t going-to-work-out-fine stuff imbued with a powerful sense of the travails of simply getting through life – sample lyric “A career in concealment awaits me / if I make it back through this drudgery and trouble / I’m broken with love and splintered within” (‘Lit Out’).
And to continue the parallels the chorused refrain of “I know we’ve both got work to do” over mournful violin and solitary sad trumpet on ‘Her Window’ is not only hair-raisingly spooky but spookily akin to Willard Grant Conspiracy’s ‘The Work Song’. Fortuntately there are also plenty of departures and points of differences. ‘Pale Water’ is a quietly intense Cohen-esque croon. Following a spoken word intro from poet Tom Leonard, ‘Catholic Boys in the Rain’ has the moody down-at-heel introspection and self-doubt of The National. And ‘The Star of the County Down’ is Irish folk narrative slowed down to funeral march pace, like a Dubliners single played at a morose 16rpm.
“Today I Need Light” traverses similar territories to the “ecclesiastical Dunfermline music” of The Scottish Enlightenment (and compare the two album cover images – tortured saints are so in) but has an assured identity and aesthetic of its own, despite my continued WGC references. Did I say austerity? Six careful years of writing and making has delivered a richly poetic and darkly engaging album which also has something very luxurious and very generous about it too.
SWALLOWS The Savings and Loan Today I Need Light [BUY]
In previous years I’ve gorged myself silly on Christmas songs. Weird exotica found at Falalalala or its ilk. Or the indie brigade going all festive – the Fortuna Pop compilations or the five hours of tunes put together over at Sweeping The Nation for instance. Then there are treasure troves of classy soul and blues takes on the festive season too.
But this year I have steadfastedly avoided all such festive fare. Perhaps I over-indulged in previous years? Or perhaps there’s just too much - and too easily available – Christmas music about this year? Everyone from Los Campesinos to 6 Day Riot and all points in between seem to be offering Christmas songs and most of it free. And I’m sure also the various campaigns to challenge X-Factor to Christmas Number One haven’t helped (I bought Cage Against The Machine - four and a half minutes of silence at Christmas was highly appealing in my current state of mind).
So here instead are some seasonal songs sounding as little like standard Christmas fare as possible – and refreshingly you need to pay, or donate to charity, for each one.
Colorama – Cerdyn Nadolig [BUY] The title may translate as “Christmas Card” but singing in a language I can’t understand ensures any other ‘seasonal’ message is obscured. Instead just gorgeous acoustic Welsh psyche-pop from Carwyn Ellis - beautiful.
Screaming Maldini – Restless Hearts and Silent Pioneers EP [BUY] Never the shy-retiring types, Sheffield’s six-piece Screaming Maldini have recorded four songs of off-kilter, melodramatic prog-orchestral-pop with erratic time signatures with possibly a bit of archaic Olde English too. Joyous and celebratory but definitely not deep and crisp and even.
Rob St John & The Braindead Collective – The Whites Of Our Eyes [BUY] Available on a pay-what-you-can basis, with all proceeds going to the homeless charity Shelter this seven minute improvised track is the “result of the first collaboration between Oxford / London kraut-jazz-drone experimentalists Braindead Collective (featuring members of Guillemots, The Epstein, Keyboard Choir and others), and the Scotland-via-Lancashire purveyor of lo-fi creaks and drones, Rob St.John”. Chilly and chilling.
Malcolm Middleton – Long, Dark Night / Live in Zurich! [BUY] This live album “from Scotland’s second favourite arch-miserablist” may appear at first glance to have a tenuous link to Christmas. However a December release meant if you ordered earlier this month, Malcolm Middleton sent you a personally signed Christmas Card. The double album – one disc acoustic, the other full band performance – also includes ‘We’re All Going To Die’, the ‘near-miss’ challenger for Christmas Number One in 2007, and ‘Burst Noel’ to boot. As the cover for “Long, Dark Night” says “a collection of wintry acoustic songs about love, hate, death and other stuff”. Says everything you need to know about Christmas in my book. Joyeux Noel one and all.
When Patterns traded under their previous moniker of Elmo Logic they claimed to be a band who “like to play loud music in dimly lit rooms”. And as their name has had a make-over so have those dimly lit rooms. For on the New Noise EP, Patterns are now inhabiting a light and spacious loft apartment with colour-drenched canvases adoring the walls. On these four songs they are catching at the tailcoats of this year’s Deer Hunter or Toro Y Moi albums. This is immediately evident from the blissful textures of ‘Broken Train’, delicately floating vocals over sleigh bells and pulsing guitars. The soothing waft of ‘Wrong Two Words’ and then ambient drift of ‘New Noise’ progressively slow things down before sombre steady throb ‘Fly to NY’ completes the record. There’s plenty of this stuff about in 2010 but it’s good to hear a new young Manchester band taking on the Yanks at their own game and coming up trumps.
And looking ahead to the New Year, Patterns play the first of a new club night from Manchester Scenewipe at Fuel Cafe Bar, Withington Manchester on 7 January alongside With That Knife and Beat The Radar. And more too-good-to-be-true value for money, it’s free entry.
Honourable mentions to three albums that at various points this year were in my Top Ten but got edged out in the final furlong : “The Wild Hunt” by The Tallest Man On Earth, “Die Stadt Muzikanten” by Woodpigeon and “The Noyelle Beat” by Standard Fare.
Which means my Top Ten for 2010 looks like this:
10. TITUS ANDRONICUSThe Monitor[BUY] [Spotify] [last.fm] Epic ragged-glory anthems built around loud, fiery guitars and punkish despair. Oh and with an American Civil War concept. Ambitious and angry.
9. Y NIWLY Niwl[BUY] [Spotify] [last.fm] Records released at the end of the year tend to do badly in end-of-year charts but this instantly infectious surf-rock from chilly Snowdonia easily bucks the trend and makes a big splash. Catch a wave.
8. TIM AND SAM'S TIM & THE SAM BAND WITH TIM & SAMLife Stream[BUY] [Spotify] [last.fm] Fine purveyors of instrumental post-folk since 2006, the generously monikered four-piece decide to add vocals for their debut album and then self-release it. Achingly gorgeous hymns to domestic simplicity and the wonders of the natural world.
7. NINA NASTASIAOutlaster[BUY] [Spotify] [last.fm] Nastasia’s trademark sparse spectral-folk sound, again with the pin-drop precision recording of Steve Albini, but here with subtle orchestral accompaniment from string and wind quartets. Sombre, intimate, tender.
6. SWEET BABOOI'm A Dancer/Songs About Sleepin'[BUY] [Spotify] [last.fm] Third album from Mr Stephen Black - unassuming charmer and national treasure-in-waiting. A witty, wise and surreal collection of anti-folk tall-tales. About moles, lungs, drinking and growing extra thumbs in compost.
5. PERFUME GENIUSLearning[BUY] [Spotify] [last.fm] Barely into his twenties, Mike Hadreas lays bare his pained life in a series of short poignant, fragile piano pieces. Devastatingly sad, hauntingly beautiful.
4. RACE HORSESGoodbye Falkenburg[BUY] [Spotify] [last.fm] Ace Welsh psyche-pop debut. A giddy sweet-shop raid, in which scoops of glam, psychedelia, indie-pop, folk-rock, even sea shanty are shoved into a bulging pick-and-mix bag. And then given a good shake.
3. ALLO DARLIN'Allo Darlin'[BUY] [Spotify] [last.fm] Australian-Anglo quartet deliver feisty, funny and infectious indie-pop classic that manages to reference Weezer, Ingrid Bergman and The Just-Joans. With a few moments of heartbreak thrown in too.
2. JOHN GRANTQueen of Denmark[BUY] [Spotify] [last.fm] A powerful and searing examination of guilt, identity and escape in the style of sombre 70s soft-rock. Melody, pain and pomp - with some laughs along the way too.
1. GIL SCOTT-HERONI'm New Here[BUY] [Spotify] [last.fm] This record is only 29 minutes long. It has two cover versions and five spoken word interludes amongst its fifteen tracks. But the dark beats and poetic ruminations and riffs on mortality, family, survival and redemption make for an unforgettable listening experience. When Gil Scott-Heron played Manchester in April he didn’t play a single song from this record live. Maybe it didn’t suit his live band? Or maybe the record ‘belongs’ more to producer Richard Russell? Either way doesn’t matter. “I’m New Here” is undeniably a tour-de-force Gil Scott-Heron performance that improves with each listen.
Is Steve Black aka Sweet Baboo the hardest working member of the Musicians Union of Wales (assuming such a branch exists)? As well as releasing his excellent third album “I’m A Dancer / Songs About Sleepin’” and touring his pants off, he has also played live or on record with Cate Le Bon, H Hawkline, Spencer McGarry Season and El Goodo this year. And released an EP as Wickes his band with Rob Jones of The Voluntary Butler Scheme. And earlier this year the Welsh Tourist Board used ‘How I’d Live My Life (aka The Bumblebee Song)’ from 2009’s “Hello Wave” to promote visits to Wales.
“An astonishing musician well worth investing time to listen to. His lyrical prowess, his beautifully dark songs, and overall wonderfulness will make you want to clutch him to your bosom for a long while. One of Wales’ finest” Huw Stephens (BBC Radio 1)
The phrase ‘National Treasure’ springs to mind...Here’s how Sweet Baboo remembers (just) his year.
What I will remember most about 2010 is... Having to stay in New York for an extra two weeks due to the dust problems, nearly getting killed by Bill and Patrick, going on my first non music-based holiday since 2004, the formation of Wickes, The Apprentice Kids, normal and Celebrity USA, discovering fish curry, you know the normal stuff!
What should be forgotten about 2010… I have an awful memory so will no doubt have forgotten 2010 by 2012.
The best gig I played was... There's a few, the last minute slot at Green Man main stage was fantastic [watch '12 Carrots of Love'], as was the cinema tent gig the next day, the Fence Collective's Away Game on the Scottish Isle of Eigg, there's too many to mention. It's been a fun year for gigs, it was over a hundred last time I counted. (as of the 23rd of November) There's still a few more to come.
The best gig I saw was... Hmm. Easy: Y Niwl are always the best band, everytime. But I also renewed my love of Belle and Sebastian at Latitude and I managed to see Acid Mother's Temple three times which is pretty cool!
A record from 2010 that will be still be played in 10 years time? Woods 'At Echo Lake' - That's my favourite album of 2010 Devendra Banhart 'Foolin' - that's the single
Overlooked in 2010? Although I am biased as I played bass on the album but 'Episode 2' by Spencer McGarry Season.
And what can we look forward to in 2011 from Sweet Baboo? I'm gonna record an EP before christmas and hopefully release it early next year, then we have something planned as a band for release sometime before the summer, then a big relax maybe!
And ahead of that here's a song from the "I'm A Dancer/Songs About Sleepin'" sessions that didn't make the album.
Following on from debut EP “Say Play Sway” in May 2008, here this December is the debut mini-album from Sophie’s Pigeons, both released on “Manchester’s finest imprint” Red Deer Club . At six tracks in length “Names and Pictures” only adds one more song to the number on that earlier EP. And EPS released earlier this year from Sufjan Stevens and British Sea Power had more than double the running time of this mini-album. But rest assured there is nothing meagre about “Names and Pictures”.
These six shiny gems are a plentiful showcase of the sophisticated maturing of the quartet’s piano-pop sounds, to the extent where first song (and single) ‘Monkeys Trunkle’ opens with wheezy harmonium/melodica and pit-a-pat drums. OK the the ivory-pounding does come in later but it is a neatly fitting component rather than the grandstanding lead instrument.
A more settled line for the band - Beckie Davies on saxophone, Charlotte Holroyd on bass, Philip Sykes on percussion in addition to Sophie Nelson on vocals and piano – has clearly helped deliver this rounded group sound. Given its title ‘Impatient’ could have been shrill piano-hammering belter. Instead is a model of restraint, sassy and sexy. ‘Elevating’ is a frenetic sax-beeping ska-hop which barely pauses for breathe in its fleet-footed three minutes. ‘Boys and Girls’ is all elegant syncopation and poise before giving way to the tribal pounding tension of the furious ‘It’s Gonna Bite’. This final song pushes the pop envelope the most but despite Sophie Nelson sounding like she is promising physical violence when singing “it’s going get better” it is still fits the record label description of this album “as a collection of six hit singles”.
Indeed the pop-sheen sparkle – and breathy sexiness – of Sophie’s Pigeons on show here could easily pass muster on a Radio 1 playlist - taking pot-shots at Marina and the Diamonds et al. but “Names and Pictures” possesses a depth and edgy sophistication that should appeal to a broader audience. If you care about intelligent pop or have previously pigeon-holed (ouch) the band as shrill or kooky you should really make time to listen to this record. And congratulations to Sophie's Pigeons for concentrating on producing quality over quantity.
I hadn’t been to a Cloud Sounds gig night before let alone an Xmas special, but I am fairly certain they haven’t been on this scale before. Tonight was a co-promotion with Red Deer Club featuring eight bands across both floors of Fuel Cafe Bar in Withington. And when I say ‘scale’ I’m not talking about the size of the venue: Fuel is a bijou cafe space, all stripped wooden floors and lit by fairy-lights, with barely enough room to swing a santa-hat let alone ambitiously stage this mini-festival. And with one band finishing on one level as another started it did feel like a festival – just with a walk up some narrow stairs rather than across a muddy field.
Sadly missing opener Alun Tan Lan, I arrived to see Stealing Sheep set up in the corner of the downstairs room. Hemmed in between towering speaker stands, the trio opened with an intricate clapping round and acapella harmonies before onto their short, sweet folk-pop songs played on keyboards, stand-up drums and tremeloed guitar. Mid-set they went up a gear as ‘The Mountain Dogs’ (renamed from ‘Telephone’ to avoid going head to head with Lady Gaga) introduced a new level of jauntiness and even more intricate rhythms. It was lovingly played, mixing melody and poise with nervous giggles – I look forward to hearing more.
Upstairs the The Louche FC performed as a three piece with drum machine. For the first song the drum machine dominated too much – or rather I was paying it too much attention. From thereon though either the sound levels balanced out or I stopped noticing - and it meant you could focus on the dreamy-drone pop of the guitars. On this second live viewing, it was the pulsing, shoegaze-leaning numbers that stood out for me over the girl-group pop sounds –but The Louche FC are equally adept at delivering both. Very assured, very impressive.
Jane Weaver told us she normally performs with a table-top of toys and gadgets. Tonight she just had a single box creating drones and acoustic guitar. Down-to-earth in appearance and accent, when singing her songs take on an eerie, other-worldly quality. Spook-folk? Quite entrancing if the police sirens and the icy blasts from the front door didn’t distract too much. On this showing it didn’t feel as though the box of toys was needed?
If Stealing Sheep had difficulty fitting into a small corner downstairs, there was more fighting for space as the seven piece The Maladies of Bellafontaine, mixing seated and standing members amongst their number, set up upstairs. Their double A-side single (both songs played here) has a cheerful skipping-to-school psych-folk feel which makes it easy to forget they also do fast and shouty (‘The Witch’), Broadcast-like motorik rhythms and just plain weird. I was left wanting more (and an album please).
Onions was the one band on the bill I knew nothing about and had no idea what to expect. Tonight their lyrics included references to muscles, vitamins and the Seven Wonders of the World. They are in fact three skinny and bookish indie-lads, two bespectacled for good measure, playing a good-natured Fountains of Wayne-meets-The Everly Brothers pop. Clearly playing to a partisan crowd and not taking it too seriously, I was nevertheless won over by their catchy melodies and playfulness.
And so to the Welsh surf-rock of Y Niwl in the upstairs room. Their self-titled album of ten instrumentals out earlier this week is a joy - but live they are something even more special. There is a ratcheting up of volume, intensity and energy, all anchored around the powerful drumming (those arms!) that is nothing short of enthralling. The band not only treat the genre with respect they treat their playing of these songs very seriously with a tightly-focussed precision and concentration. You could feel the tension lift as they finished each song. Just brilliant. Go and see.
The whole evening had the feel of a cosy lock-in: friendly, homely but still with a sense of occasion, something special without ever being self-important or full of itself. And despite the season and the title of the evening there were no mince pies and only one person was wearing a Santa hat. But what really made this night was the shrewd and cohesive selection of bands. All bands so far tonight had mixed to differing degrees the innocence of earlier decades of pop music, folky or droney melodies and quirkiness. Final band of the night Young British Artists therefore felt a bit out of step with the rest of the evening: a loud, brutal buffeting from industrial guitar squalls. Still a good, pulverising head cleanser for the journey home.
All this for only £6. Now this is how Christmas should be celebrated. Twelve months feels too long to wait to another one.
In November 2007 I bought ‘Stepping Stones’ EP after a Tim and Sam's Tim and the Sam Band with Tim and Sam gig at Cafe Saki. It was the last one, a handwritten CDR version with a colour-photocopy sleeve. That wasn’t important (and they sold it to me at a discount) as it was the music I was interested in. Two and a half years later, the band’s debut album ‘Lifestream’ is released. The presentation has definitely improved - a handsome illustrated cover on vinyl, CD and digital versions plus a lavish limited edition box-set (now sold out). However the music has also upped its game: achingly gorgeous post-folk (now with vocals on five of the eleven tracks!) that hymns the natural world (‘The Yellowhammer’, ‘Out In The Ocean’, ‘Summer Solstice’) or domestic comforts (‘Coming Home’, ‘All Tucked Up’ , ‘Up The Stairs’).
"Tim and Sam have produced an album that may have been two years in the making, but will remain in the memory for a lifetime. They have created a brilliantly progressive and rich musical tapestry that will leave many people in awe of the talent on show." Clash Music
Highly recommended at full price but this December if you are quick you can get the CD or vinyl half-price to help fund future recordings.
And here’s what the band’s Tim McIver thought of the last twelve months.
What I will remember most about 2010 is... 2010 has been a year of milestones for us, so there will be lots of great things to look back on. One highlight was releasing "Life Stream". It took us two years to make and during the process we went through a whole host of difficulties; line-up changes, money issues, label problems, the decision to put vocals on it, to self-release it etc. In some ways it's a small miracle it even got finished at all, so we're very proud that we managed it and that it's been so well received.
Another big thing for us was our recent tour with Cherry Ghost. We've never done a tour support before, and it came just at the right time. We were fully up to speed with playing the material from the album and had an amazing time playing to such great, receptive crowds each night. An amazing experience that we'll never forget.
What should be forgotten about 2010? I don't think there's anything we'd rather forget. There have been some inevitable lows but it's all something to learn from and has helped us really appreciate the good bits.
The best gig we played was... Difficult one. I'd say either the Milton Keynes or the Manchester date of the Cherry Ghost tour. Milton Keynes was at a seated venue called The Stables, which really suited our sound, and Manchester was at a sold out Academy 2 and was our biggest crowd to date. Both were amazing for different reasons.
The best gig I saw was... It may well have been John Williams at the Bridgewater Hall this week. It may not show in Tim and Sam, but I'm a very keen classical guitarist and John Williams is a real hero of mine so it was great to see him play. He's a true master of his instrument and a real inspiration.
A record from 2010 that will be still be played in 10 years time? Lots of my favourites have released records this year, so hopefully a lot of them will stand the test of time. At the moment I'm addicted to "The Age of Adz" by Sufjan Stevens, and because it's so big sounding it takes a few listens to really get in to it, which is always good for longevity I feel. Other highlights of this year have been The National, Villagers and Broken Social Scene.
Overlooked in 2010? The recent Shady Bard record is definitely worth checking out. I think this line from a DiS review sums them up nicely: "Their complex arrangements, usually borne out of a fusion of unconventional instrumentation and oddball subject matter have made them one of the most original bands to emerge from the UK's underground scene this past decade."
And what can we look forward to in 2011 from Tim and Sam? We've got a lot of exciting things in the pipeline! Lots of new material is taking shape in the studio at the moment, and we're really looking forward to showing everyone what we've been doing. We're making some big changes behind the scenes, which should be announced early next year. Here's to another fun filled year!
Tim and Sam's Tim and the Sam Band with Tim and Sam Lifestream [BUY]
I misread the tags written on the Bandcamp page for The Soft Collapse to be a single line description: "sweet Brooklyn bedroom pop" . The band themselves - Ryan Montgomery and Dave Teufel – prefer "mellow cello rock". And both give you a pretty accurate indication of what to expect on their debut album self-released on 1 January this year (a form of New Year’s Resolution?).
“Little Songs” is a quiet and intense listen that can be a bit samey and somnambulant over the 12 tracks if you don’t pay it full attention to pick out its subtle inflections and changes of pace. The jaunty ode to NY street wandering on ‘City Ramblin’’ or the wry optimism of ‘All I Can Hope To Create’ contrast with the sombre intensity of ‘Heart of Hearts’ or ‘Honey on Toast’. Elsewhere ‘Black on Black on Black on Black’ tilts towards country-noir whilst conforming to the rule that any song referencing Johnny Cash can only be good.
Chris Knox
Withered Hand
Onions 
