Music: Blog

Lots of news and reviews to post here soon, but in the meantime here's my latest Indieoma.com post with all sorts of stuff in it...

I haven't made any personal posts for a while, not due to lack of anything to say or to talk about, just haven't got round to it, I've been quite busy, beavering away trying to sort a load of things with varying degrees of success. I wont bother getting everything up to date, just a few highlights from the past few weeks and I'll try to be more regular from now on.

Glenn's old outfit, 'Squeeze' were a British new wave band hailing from SE London in the early eighties (from the same area as me! In fact several members sent their children to my school?) chalking up a string of hits such as 'Cool for Cats' and 'Labelled with Love'. A small but loyal fan base followed the band into their 'MOR years', but an ever fluctuating line up and a ubiquitous series of splits and reunions led to Squeeze's eventual demise. Now Glenn tours the world in an RV with family in tow bashing his way through a vast back catalogue adapted for acoustic guitar and solo delivery.I had the fortune of catching two shows whilst he was in town, and Glenn's shows are full of energy and enthusiasm with Glenn frequently abandoning the mic and wandering the stage. His songs of lamented love and forbidden fancies interspersed with anecdotes and musical tales of two decades on the road, well documented in Amy Pickard's film 'One for the road' which received it's debut showing prior to his first performance. The seated, older and more sedate audience at 'Don't Tell Tom' on Friday night were reluctant to fully immerse themselves in the many acts of participation that Glenn had planned, preferring instead to shout requests that are gleefully added to the set ad hoc. The younger, keener and more energetic audience at 'the Espy' on Wednesday night however were up for everything thrown at them, singing along without prompting in all the right places and gathered in a throng at the front of the stage for the entirety of the set.The second half of The Espy show Glenn was backed by the infamous Rockwiz orchestra with the intention of adding a little more 'Rock' to the show and I'm unsure if they really did Glenn any favours. All the songs were played too slowly, this coupled with Glenn's obvious nervousness at playing with an unfamiliar band drew away some of his earlier energy and presence, a friend at the show nicknamed them 'The Masters of Homogenisationî which describes their effect on all they back beautifully.Life for the old stalwarts of Rock that refuse to quit touring must be an odd existence, over 20 years of material and all audiences primarily want to hear are your early 'hits'. At the very least frustrating, possibly even a little depressing, however Glenn certainly doesn't show it.

From The Answer's opening chords it's immediately obvious why the band are more popular in Australia than their homeland of Ireland, bearing more than a passing resemblance to a certain electrically themed Australian four piece, a member of the crowd even shouts, 'Welcome Home!î Fortunately there's more to the band, they seemingly channel aspects of every major 'Rawk' band from the past four decades, and carry it off it extraordinarily well with a vast show of talent and tunes. The band are on fine form tonight with the crowd firmly in their hands, the singer croons, howls, swings his microphone stand and poses, the guitarist solos with a foot on the monitor and riffs hard, the drummer and the bass player keep it all going with some solid rock. There's a lot of hair, a lot of volume, a lot of ego and a lot of sweat, the perfect ingredients and dare I say it, the perfect answer(!) for any night of fully blown, seat of your pants' Rock.

The life of support acts to large touring artists is a tough one, playing early to half empty rooms for little money to people who are largely indifferent to your efforts and sadly tonight is no exception as a multitude of people seem happy to pay $30 to only watch one band. The Regular Johns kick off proceedings with a dangerous name for any rock band, as despite their high energy stage show, faultless playing and excellent stage presence, musically they are sadly no more than a fairly regular rock band. The Mint Chicks are up next, a band I've been wanting to see for a long time since they became a regular part of my DJ set in the UK and I hate to say, I was a little disappointed. Personally I get the feeling that the band's sound was set up for The Bronx as their usual clear punchy sound (on record) was just a big mushy mess with no clarity or distinction. Despite this, Kody, the band's singer is one the most acrobatic front men I've ever witnessed (second to the British Institution that is John Ottway!), flinging himself about left, right and centre, back flips and belly flops, sadly though the sound doesn't do the energy any justice and I'm left a little under whelmed. The Bronx on the other hand live up to all the hype my uber-fan companion gave them, my initial thought was that I'd be bored after 20 minutes of relentless, incessant hardcore, far from it, I was transfixed from start to finish. From the lead guitarist playing despite a shattered pelvis, the tank-like bass player and the shear passion and energy of singer Matt Caughthran as he crowd surfed around the venue whilst still 'singing' on full throttle and remaining vaguely in tune. Aside from the music the band love the crowd, flattering Melbourne and Australia, encoring with a cover of The Victims' song, 'Television Addict'. The Bronx rock, love what they do, love the crowd and the crowd love them, what more could you want?

I wanted to review this fifth album from the Newcastle Lo-Fi stars as they reminded me of my fanzine writing days in the late 90's. Therein lies the problem, despite claiming to have influenced the current crop of highly successful bands from the North East of England (which I can't hear myself), the band remind me a little too much of the late 90's, they haven't really changed. If you're after a proficient slab of good old-fashioned Lo-Fi Indie then look no further, Spraydog are definitely the band for you, but personally I overdosed on it a long time ago.<br><br><a href=https://www.spraydog.co.uk target=_blank>www.spraydog.co.uk</a>

Whilst I'm all for supporting new music and anything that raises the profile of good new artists I'm not entirely sure what this fairly long running scheme in partnership with FOPP, The PRS Foundation for new music and Clear Sound and Vision is trying to achieve. Looking at the judging panel which includes staff from the NME as well as big wig A&R men and listening to the music on this sampler CD one can't help but wonder that the award is aiming to find new music with the biggest commercial potential not necessarily the most competent or interesting music. Olympus Mons sound like every other 'Libertines-Lite' band currently doing the rounds, Conrad Vague is a proficient but uninteresting singer-songwriter with only The Dials and Morton Valance doing something slightly more interesting, which is interesting as they're the only two artists on the CD that already had a profile before entering the competition. Proof perhaps that those deserving will win through and be noticed anyway or maybe a sign of conflicting opinions and motives in the Judging Panel.

This is a demo, so I will treat it as such and offer Pocus Whiteface some constructive criticism, which I hope is what they want. There are some wonderful riffs here, some amazing crazy guitar noises, discordant chords, thundering bass lines (played by a brilliant bass player) and manic shouted vocals (though they could do with greater projection), all of which are good in my books. The bands' main flaws lie in their structure and arrangement, despite no song being longer than four and a half minutes at times they drag and feel a lot longer. The songs need more ups and downs, more hooks, better dynamics, bury yourselves in a studio for a bit, tear the songs apart, put them back together again and we'll have a mighty musical force on our hands.

Proficient debut demo from London five piece for those who remember the sweeter and more melodious side of Britpop and have since got jobs, got lives and grown up? A bit.

Despite my suspicions that Big Strides may have a lot of money behind them (headlining the Electric Ballroom already?) this is a brilliant single. Each track has a different style from bluesy-funk to mellow Ballad, un yet still possessing a similar feel and sound, all superbly captured and recorded. Three boys to watch out for.

IV Thieves last single, Day is a Downer received a fairly muted response from me and after listening to If We Can't Escape My Pretty it was a definite case of too few tracks to properly judge a band, the album is awesome, unrelenting, rock and riffs fill it from start to finish. Three of the Four Thieves take turns on lead vocals which leads to a variable if slightly schizophrenic feel to the album, albeit with a John Lennon-esque delivery at their core. Each vocal seems to be complimented perfectly by the musical backing, this isn't just a random allocation of duties, proceedings have been planned and thought out. It has a retro feel, I stick by my Britpop references and add a probable love of 60's music to the equation, but it's retro beefed up, revved up, brought slap bang into the modern age.

Collaborations seem to be becoming increasingly popular, varying from perfect pairings to just plain embarrassing, this release is somewhere in-between. The first few tracks are brilliant; especially 'Live with me' that not only features Mark Lanegan on vocals sounding like the ghost of Johnny Cash, but is also a cover of a Massive Attack song. Tracks 2 and 3 are also wonderful dark laments, full of brooding bass lines and discordant chords, from here on the music remains fairly interesting and dark but the vocals become duller and more generic as we revert to the normal band line-up, which begs the question, who are the Twilight Singers?

I'm instantly suspicious of bands who try to make themselves sound a lot more interesting than they really are, if you've got nothing to say or it's too early in your career to have anything interesting to say on a press release, then just keep it simple, let the music talk for itself. Fortunately in the Vice's case the music does a fair job of this, despite being a low key and budget release. The band's sound is currently schizophrenic as they find their voice, fusing a few 'fashionable' styles and a few of their own ideas, thus they have the potential in sound, looks and attitude to be twisted into a marketing commodity, turned into whatever a label executive with a fat wallet desires them to become. At the moment the band's music has some honesty, rawness, some life, I hope it and they stay that way.

10 minutes spent playing an E chord, ear splitting and ostentatious guitar solos and more posing than you care to shake a stick at are a few of the elements delighting a packed and buzzing Water Rats Tonight. Imagine part Led Zeppelin, part LSD from 'The Producers' (The original film) and part Menswe@r and you're half way to a rough idea of knowing what a night with Pop Levi is like.

Elements of Orphan Boy sound similar to many other bands currently on the bandwagon, some elements are even cringingly similar. Thankfully there seems to be a little more to the band. Firstly they poses an aggressive rawness presently lacking in so many bands, frantic, shouted lyrics on the Dull mundanity of life, great crashing guitar chords and driving instrumentals. If only more bands of this genre could be as imaginative.

Rose Kemp's Live shows are phenomenal, such an expression filled and fuelled singer coupled with a tight proficient band make for a blistering combination. Rose Kemp's Debut single, Violence was a particular favourite of mine, a brooding builder it was one of my favourite singles of last year. Hand Full of Hurricane contains some incredible tracks; Rose Kemp's voice soars in Rock Majesty and drops into serene heart felt moments. The music cleverly arranged, played and produced with skill and thought. The songs are raw, open and honest, about feelings and emotions, good and bad, but deeply personal and every word meant. There is a but to this review, although it's a small one. A few tracks are a little self indulgent, in that the songs are too long and some unnecessary, they feel like padding, with Rose's vocal trickery rather overshadowing the feelings of the song. Overall an impressive debut from a talented artist who exceeds all expectations and assumptions.

When I first listened to this CD I wanted to slate it completely, sounding like a horrendous hash of all my least favourite current musical genres, including Emo, disco-beat shit, Jingle-Jangle Indie Fop and obligatory Northern accents (not that there's anything wrong with that, it just seems that the Industry is almost looking for them!). Whilst there is a little too much of all of the aforementioned genres in Dartz!'s sound I'm glad I gave it a second listen as beneath all the spine chilling scene chasing are some good melodies, lyrics and musicmanship, boys, get original, you can do it!

Despite a promising album name and some splendid song titles such as Let the Blind lead the Blind and Talentless Fuck this album on the whole pretty is terrible. There is too much Emo crap at the moment and far too much Disco beat nonsense (I keep saying this over and over again, I feel like I'm repeating myself far too much!) so why the hell combine the two! Commercial success I guess.

With a name like Duke Garwood I was hoping for some low down dirty blood, guts and spit blues, which this release is to a certain extent, but with an off-kilter, lo-fi edge. However too many times on the album you're left wanting tunes with direction and more of Duke's soulful, gritty voice and less meandering music that sounds mostly improvised, it all starts to drag after a few tracks

I seem to have been sent an abundance of random noise albums recently, I don't quite understand the point of recording an album of meandering melodies that don't really go anywhere. All very nice and pleasant, and a smattering of pretty melodies, but all to no avail.

Despite a name influenced by wondrous family fantasy romp, Willow the band are yet another overproduced slab of boring American influenced trite. I barely noticed the tracks change from one to the other, I was just glad when it was all over.

ULU is full of sweat, teenage hormones and casual day time radio listeners, Jingle jangle and the kids all dance, Uh Oh and the kids all chant, but there's something fundamentally important missing, where are the songs? The Maccabees set is like one long yawn, lots of nice sounding chords all strung together, where are the verses, the choruses, the hooks, the ups, the downs? Where's the stage show, the presence? Where's the Rock & Roll?

Somewhere buried beneath all The Disco Beat crap and Indie-Fop rubbish that plagues the current music scene is an encouraging and burgeoning army of Singer-Songwriters with something to say. Clayton Blizzard is one of it's finest exponents, his lyrics are incredible, he raps, he sings, he improvises, but unlike some of his contemporaries, he can write original tunes, played with skill and ease on his acoustic guitar. He speaks the truth with a dose of un naive reality, the residents of Notting Hill aren't all up for hearing it, but this is what music should be about, Fusion is the future, Black meets White, genre meets genre, Folk and Phat, inspiring and pure genius.

Mira Calix makes no excuse at this being an Art Installation of sorts, an experiment in musical boundaries rather than song writing. Whilst it's all very interesting, I hate to sound narrow minded but I'm old fashion, I like songs, verses, choruses and bits that you want to whistle, an hour of noise is not my idea of fun. There is the occasional beautiful moment, but there's too much fiddling around, too much indulgence and lack of structure for my tastes.<a href='https://www.miracalix.com' target='_blank'>www.miracalix.com</a>

Been rather lame with blog posts recently, you see I'm know self-employed, so not only do I have work to do, but when I don't, I have to look for work... On top of all that I'm arranging my trip to Australia...<br><br>Also, I haven't posted many articles or reviews recently, because I finally have a paid writing job which is taking up most of my time, now it's finally launched I'll start telling you about some of the stuff I'm posting there, more of that later...<br><br>Firstly a few news titbits that caught my eye...<br><br><a href="https://www.musictowers.com/NewsFeed/ViewArticle1969.aspx" target="_blank">New Chart Rules</a><br><br><a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/03/armed_cop_challenge/" target="_blank">Armed Cop Challenge</a><br><br><a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/08/crimean_dolphin_attack/" target="_blank">Dolphin Attack!</a><br><br><a href="https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.01/khipu.html" target="_blank">And this is very interesting...</a><br><br>I took a trip to the Museum of London and think I might have found the roots of the North / South divide in country and London Terms, I was going to post photos, but they didn't come out very well...<br><br>In the museum is a map of Roman Briton, South England is called "Britannia Superior", North England "Britannia Inferior"...<br>As for London, it seems that in times gone past the City, i.e. the North, built a wall round itself, to protect itself from invaders, no thought for the south though...<br><br>Big Brother : Not something I'd often talk about, but I gather some fellah from The Towers of London is in it this time, I wonder if their career will experience the same turnaround the Ordinary Boys did? It may intrigue you to know that both bands share the same press company... And that some time ago I spoke to Preston, after the second album had been released but pre-BB, and he confided in me that he had no idea what was in store for them, the second album, not being that well received...<br><br>Now, me and the Macaca Boys have been recording of late, we should have some results very soon... It was an odd process, a little bitty and isolated from each other, but that was the same way we did the Art Brut album and that came out OK...<br><br>OK then, now it's finally sort of on the way... Well it's in Beta stages, but go and have a look and submit suggestions for improvements, here's the site I've been writing for of late : <br><br><a href="https://www.indieoma.com" target="_blank">www.indieoma.com</a><br><br>At the moment it just has articles from my Australia music special, but very soon it will have stuff on : Antifolk, The Hot Puppies, The Answer, Bass Clef, Billy Ruffian, Brinkman, Dead Disco, The Mighty Roars, The Pipettes, Simon Breed, Twisterbait, Nosferatu D2, Blah blah blah, Rose Kemp, 28 Costumes, Billy Brag, The Indelicates, Alpha Saloon, Ashok, The Hedrons, Passenger, Voicst, The Wednesday Society, Natsuo Chiyoda, Some Velvet Morning, Summer Holiday, Dan Sartain, Indigo Moss and more...<br><br>Unfortunately I can't post the articles here, but I am slowly catching up with all the other reviews I've written, and will get them up soon...<br><br>Chinch out xx

Well then, been a while since I last said something...<br /><br />Christmas was quiet, dull, so I guess that was a good Christmas, sat around a lot, watched telly, ate, argued with the family, typical stuff...<br /><br />Got back on the 28th and did a surreal gig with Jim, just the two of us, tried several new songs I'd written and then we did a few improvised songs together, it was most amusing and there was a fair audience to...<br /><br />We also had a great gig on the 30th at The Pop Art Birthday at Lark in the Park, you can see some great photos <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mapsmagazine/sets/72157594449794529" target="_blank">here</a> taken by Paul Maps... As you can see we now have a new guitarist, welcome 'Dan Lobster'. Jim and I also sat on a Questions panel and took part in Indie win lose or draw, all great fun.<br /><br />New Years eve was an odd one, sat about most of the day, dropped by on Chez Fruitbat to visit Les & Crissi and watch Time Team with them, then off to a party of a guy I used to work with which was pretty cool and I met his three foot Marijuana plant called 'Nicky'. Then Arran and Lydia turned up and convinced me to go to another party, where I never quite felt happy, so left about 2ish but it took ages to get home and I saw so much obnoxious behaviour it really depressed me... New years day was pleasant, took a very long walk from Aldgate to Tooting to meet Jim and a few others for Dinner...<br /><br />Then today I started working my way through the list of places I want to visit before I leave with my old Flatmate Carrie, though Westminster Abbey and St Pauls were stupidly expensive so we only ended up going to The London Museum instead and then a quick wander round the National Gallery...<br /><br />I recorded a new track over Christmas to, at the request of a guy in Australia who wanted to remix it, it's a live favourite called 'AAA', take a listen at <a href="https://www.chinchilla-music.co.uk/music.php" target="_blank">www.chinchilla-music.co.uk/music.php</a> where you can hear both remixes, or at <a href="https://www.myspace.com/chrischinchilla" target="_blank">www.myspace.com/chrischinchilla</a>.<br /><br />Overall though I've been feeling strange the past week, everything is in motion now for my return to Australia, booked the flight, visa is being processed and I can't wait to be there again, not least because I get to meet a lovely Lady again, but also because it has not taken me long at all to become fed up with London again, and be reminded of all the reasons behind this feeling, I'm just killing time at the moment, I can't wait until I can finally start something new and move on from a lot of past. I'm rambling slightly, it's hard to put some of the feelings I have on the subject into words without going into a lot of things from my past, I guess it basically boils down to "That was me then this is me now", I want to live a different life as a different sort of person, but when you're constantly surrounded by the trappings of old you, and some of those trappings refuse to give you a chance as the new you... If that makes any sense...<br /><br />Suffice it to say, I'm very excited, after a while of talking about it, I'm finally leaving the UK to pastures new...

Firstly, a few more bits and pieces for you...<br><br>I am such a geek... <a href="https://video.on.nytimes.com/ifr_main.jsp?nsid=a718aabc2:10f8a83155f:-47f8&rf=bm&fr_story=d14603c1e23e6ce37920a8134a2e27b1405a4991&st=1166261802822∓=FLV&cpf=false&fvn=9&fr=121606_043642_718aabc2x10f8a83155fxw47f7&rdm=47464.51370765665" target="_blank">This</a> will irritate some of you (not least because of his accent), but what the hell!<br><br>Recently I've been investigating <a href="https://www.ilike.com" target="_blank">iLike</a>, it's like a mix between Pandora and Last FM, and is very pretty, though the music database is a little lacking in places at the moment...<br><br>It's been funny since I got back, because my initial plan was to just get back into work (which I have been, and very busy indeed, with all sorts of interesting work coming my way), get the band going (and we're recording next week!) and see what happened...<br><br>But it's funny what life throws at you, as in Melbourne I met someone who I got on very well with, so instead will be heading back there soonish to embark on a new adventure instead...<br><br>Oh well, who was I kidding that I could just come back to London and get on with life again?<br><br>Too much out there to be experienced yet, and I've made no secret of the fact that I've wanted to leave the UK for ages anyway and have just been looking for the right place and set of circumstances (which sounds really sterile, I guess I just mean when it felt right.)<br><br>Which has made the past week a little hectic as I try to organise all the paperwork (and get nowhere with it yet!), figure out when I'm actually going to go and sort everything out around that, keeping my fingers crossed that things will all just sort of come together beautifully as they always seem to when I stop worrying about things. (Apparently I have a guardian angel, but that's a whole other story!)<br><br>Anyway, so at the moment, I'm a little worried, busy, but very happy and excited... Good times!<br><br>Chinch out :-)

This was written for <a href="\" target="\&quot;_blank\&quot;">www.mapsmagazine.co.uk</a> so focuses on the playing side of things, might write something in more detail at some point, dunno... Had a lot of fun and some great times, met some great people...

A bubble machine is on stage pumping into the audience, a strobe flashing near the drum kit as the 7 members of Delta Mainline awkwardly squash onto the small stage in front of an already warmed up audience. The venue is too small for their big sound, occasionally hard to define and losing distinction when the whole band is in full swing. Delta Mainline create big epic slabs of noise, building multiple layers of melodies and noise and for the most part without becoming too self-indulgent. Vocally there's not a massive amount going on, enough to hold your interest and a few hooks here and there, but generally too soaked in reverb to pick much out which is probably for the best anyway.

The front row is a mixed bag of hard rockers and country fans intently listening to the similar mix emitting from the stage. A constantly pulsating and alluring cellist, a rake-like singer who conjures an incredible voice from the depths of somewhere not pleasant, a pounding bass player built like a tank and the tallest drummer ever seen build a dark world around them, dragging the crowd in, willing or not.