Live Review! Bellowhead

This review comes from Colin Coates, who didn’t have to pay to get into this gig in exchange for some flyering, as he is a member of our street team.

Bellowhead – Norwich Waterfront – Tue 20/10/09

Another wonderful evening in the company of Bellowhead, and again thanks to Andy and Jon at Properganda for getting my mate and I on the guest list.

Belshazzar's Feast

The support were Belshazzar’s Feast (one of Paul Sartin from Bellowhead’s other projects), clever, musically astounding, and very smutty at times!  (An example of this was how in the past the letter “f” was used instead of “s”, so Paul said they would “suck it and see” how a tune would work out.)  I bought their album Frost Bites as a result, and highly recommend it.

Bellowhead themselves were on for 90 minutes or so with two encores; the set was mainly from Matachin, with the arrangements looser giving the band a chance to show off their musical skills.  Highlights for me were Fakenham Fair (it had to be, me being from Norfolk), Kafoozalum, and Whiskey Is The Life Of Man, the number they started with, Jon toasting us with apple juice!

Bellowhead

A few new numbers, the best being the ‘begging song’, and old faves like Haul Away, Rigs Of The Time, The Rochdale Coconut Dance but sadly no Jordan.
As ever great to watch, the “posing”, the “dance”(!) routines and how they seem to be having as much fun as the audience is.

A GREAT evening, and look forward to the next time they play Norwich, one of the best gigs this year.

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Live Review! Hypnotic Brass Ensemble

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble – Dingwalls, Camden – Wed 21/10/09

This comes from Jon Blackburn, one of our guys from the accounts department, who proves that not all accountants are squares.  The fact that he has taken the time to write this review is a testament to how good the band are, as Jon doesn’t really like any music that’s been written since the ’70s, despite not having been born until the ’80s.

10PM could seem like a late start for a Wednesday night but when the eight all-playing, all-rapping, all-dancing brothers complete with drummer hit the first chord it is well worth the wait.

 

Live Review! Portico Quartet

Portico Quartet – Rough Trade East, London – Wed 21/10/09

Click to enlarge (Photo: Dom Jones)

It’s always a pleasure to visit either Rough Trade store, one of the last bastions of successful independent record dealership in London.  The delight is somewhat amplified when a great band is playing there, such was the case last night.  Having had prior arrangements every time Portico Quartet have played near me since i first heard of them, this show was much anticipated given that i was actually available to watch them.

 

Live Review! Baddies

Baddies – Borderline, Tottenham Court Road, London – Mon 12th Oct ‘09

[This review today comes from Jonathan D Anger]

Photos by www.taylorassignments.com

Having found refuge from the cold October air in the pub before the much-anticipated Baddies gig at The Borderline, I saw a face I recognised. It was Michael Webster, front man and all round good bloke from the band, who was himself seeking refuge before the gig. After the initial greetings, I found myself confused and in an awkward situation. I didn’t actually know whom I was talking to. You see, Michael’s identical (I mean really identical) twin brother Jim also plays drums for the band and I couldn’t be sure. I bit the bullet to save myself further embarrassment and said, “I’m sorry, I literally have no idea who you are.”

 

Live Review! Speed Caravan

Speed Caravan – Dingwalls, Camden Wed 07/10/09

Photo: York Tillyer

I arrive fashionably late to the gig, relieved to find that the band are clearly more fashionable than me.  I am treated to about 15 minutes of dark dubsteb from DJ UMB (Una Musica Brutàle) before the band are introduced by Seb from Kazum!, an independent promotions and live music production company who put on all sorts of great gigs.

 

Live Review! Club Topicana

Club Topicana, London Southbank Centre – Saturday 19th September ‘09

One of the series of celebrations of Topic Record’s 70th Anniversary, this particular gig is the only one of the series which is more of a tribute to Topic than a representation of their current roster, as none of the performing artists are signed to the label.  However, it gives a good insight into Topic’s legacy and with the selection of young artists demonstrates that the UK folk scene has a vibrant future ahead of it.

 

Gary Numan – Live Sat 25/07/09

[Apologies for the tardiness of this review but other things have been happening too.  Ed]

I totally just saw Gary Numan! As a wee Goth in the year 2000, Gary Numan was King.  Inspired by the tragedy of his wife’s miscarriage, he had come out with PURE; the biggest, baddest, bitterest and most beautiful industrial rock album I had ever heard; one that’s a million miles away from MACHINE & SOUL, METAL RHYTHM and even REPLICAS. I was having a great time being completely miserable.

And tonight, nine years on, Gary Numan is not the shy robot of a teenager that unloaded Are Friends Electric? and Cars, nor is he the questionable dance icon that annoyed most of his fans (I quite like it) from 1982 to 1994 -  instead the Numan of the new century is a freakin’ rock star.

The moment he hits the stage (lit beautifully with dark red lines that recall the artwork for the classic TELEKON) the venue is smothered in crushing, grinding distortion and wailing, piercing synths. Awesome. Goths mope (in a good way), oldies dance, people cheer, corsets loosen, I rock, and Numan even cracks a smile. It was nice.

Drawing his material predominantly from his last two albums (JAGGED and PURE) and highlights from his two most celebrated and influential classics (REPLICAS and THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE) Numan offers a powerful and well balanced set of huge, pulsing anthems.

Ditching the three-note synth-pop of his past, the Numan of today creates an atmospheric and ambitious mix of creeping, cruel verses; dark tones; subtle melodic touches and impassioned, soaring choruses – if you’d thought Numan was capable of a set as emotive and uncompromising as this in 1992 you’d be Rasputin.

Numan stays relatively quiet throughout the night, just the occasional ‘thanks’, but he reminds us of exactly how relevant he is through a double header of Metal (from his first solo album) and Blind (from his fifteenth…), which demonstrate both his innovation and his mastery of electronic music. Numan is not an old man playing a young man’s game, he’s proving that he can bring as much of a bite to the style he helped create as any of his competition.

Surprisingly, global super-hit Cars is received as ‘just another song’, people cheer and people sing, but it doesn’t stand out, such is the quality of his recent material that his most famous single sits quite modestly alongside it all.

On a night full of hits, rare treats, live favourites and highlights like Down in the Park, Films, Rip and Are Friends Electric? – he closes with a gorgeous encore of Prayer for the Unborn (which was bleaker than Italian Neo-Realism). I’d been taught (by the office soul man) that only Marvin Gaye could write a song so personal – but I’d been taught wrong, this left me breathless.  Yowzer.

Now I’ve long since realised that Goth music is generally a bit silly, and I learnt the hard way how bad I look in make up, but no one else working in the genre brings as much heart and grit to the industrial template as Gary Numan. He’s not a joke anymore, he’s not a pop star anymore – instead he’s a credible recording artist who’s managed to get more mileage out of that old car than anyone could ever have predicted.

I leave a very happy frowner.

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Kieronononon^ – live Thur 23/07/09, Fox & Firkin

[By Jamie Halliday]

With lights flashing, feedback blaring, sound warping, instruments crumbling, fools fleeing, ears peeling, synth bleeping and an Argos toy guitar rattling – I realise that The Beatles really aren’t that big a deal.

Kieronononononon^ononononononononon [spelling is variable - Ed]are in the house. Whos’ house? Their house. Quite.

 

Dub Colossus – Wed 08/07/09, Dingwalls (in brief)

Not arrogant enough to suggest that I could do the music or live show of Dub Colossus any justice (I’m also dodging Jury Service), I will instead direct you towards the words and work of a Mr Robin Denselow as he describes the rise and rise of our Dub heroes at Camden’s Dingwalls on July 8^th:

“Could they sound as good playing live? Indeed they could, especially when so many of London’s Ethiopian community turned out to transform Dingwalls into a seething African dance hall.”

Click here to read the whole lot.

I will however say that as a fan of EP1, EP2 and the long-playing ‘A Town Called Addis’ I wasn’t at all disappointed with the live transformation of so many of my studio favourites. I had a really great evening at probably the most lively and diverse London gig I’ve ever had the pleasure of attending. I also got very sweaty – and nabbed a t-shirt.

Their spot at Womad should be something very special.

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Live Review! Mawkin:Causley – The Bedford, Balham, 15/04/09

This review comes courtesy of Alison Scott.  (I would have been at this gig and reviewed it myself but i was ill.  Drat!)

Another picture of Mawkin:Causley

“Of course I’d like to go to the Mawkin:Causley album launch,” I explained. “So what if it’s immediately after I’m due to enter a 5k jog for the first time in my entire life? In Hyde Park? No problem.”

Which is how come I arrived at the Bedford in Balham, a bit late, covered in sweat, smelling like a camel, and wearing a fabulously fetching British Heart Foundation t-shirt and my gold plastic finisher’s medal.

To be fair, nobody had mentioned that Balham is South of the River. Jim Causley is of course known as Devon’s finest young folk singer, and Mawkin’s usual stomping ground is the wilds of Essex. We deduced that the venue for the album launch has been chosen to be equidistant between the two. But the Bedford is a fantastic venue; a fairly ordinary pub conceals an astonishing round, galleried room with tons of atmosphere. The entire room has a canopied ceiling and a mirror ball so the audience all looks faintly shimmery. It’s part seated, around long tables crammed together just perfect for chatting with friends, quaffing good ale, and listening to fine English folk bands.

We stopped worrying about being late when we met Jim Causley at the bar. “You’re missing Vicki Swan and Jonny Dyer”, he explained. But it turned out we’d only missed a couple of songs, and they were terrific, mixing interesting tunes with some strong ballads. Stand-out tracks included Young Hunting and The Two Magicians.

But Mawkin:Causley were of course the main event; here to launch their first ‘proper album’, The Awkward Recruit following 2008’s EP Cold Ruin. I’ve been following both for years; I first saw Mawkin in the lobby bar at Crawley Folk Festival in the middle of the night years ago, and Jim Causley in the Village Hall at Towersey.

Mawkin:Causley - The Awkward Recruit

Mawkin, who comprise brothers James and Dave Delarre on fiddle and guitar, with Danny Crump on bass and Alex Goldsmith on melodeon, are a very local band for us. For example, they play an annual pub ceilidh in the pub round the corner, and Mawkin:Causley regularly sell out the Walthamstow Folk Club. So it’s been terrific seeing Mawkin:Causley develop from just putting together a few songs to being, well, Made of Awesome.

They played one long set at the launch, encouraging the audience to get up for beer “or whatever”. The songs were a mix of the songs from the EP and from the new album. The album is produced by Stu Hanna of Megson; reviews of the album complement the fine production but you should know that this band delivers a fantastic, punchy sound live as well.

As this was an album launch, I was expecting most of the material to be unfamiliar, but it turns out that about half the new album is songs they’ve been performing for some time. The Luddite anthem Cropper Lads feels like an old favourite, as does Cutty Wren, which tells of the ancient ritual of songbird dissection. Other songs, like Barrie Temple’s fine Greenlander were completely new to me.

Lauren McCormick (who used to sing with Jim in The Devil’s Interval) joined the band on stage for a rousing version of, well, something; my notes fail me at this point. I think it was Come Me Lads. There were other notable audience members; when Mawkin played the tune set Kettle Drum/Cookie Monster, they pointed out that melodeon player and cookie monster Nick Cook had been taking the tickets.

The one song that I noted that’s not on either album was Jim’s rendition of the splendidly smutty German Clockwinder, ably supported by appropriate sound effects from James on the fiddle. This is probably a song you want to hear live, so you should go and catch Mawkin:Causley soon.

Mawkin:Causley - Cold Ruin

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