Gig the season to be jolly...

With the last few 'summer' festivals now squelching to a close it's time to head indoors again as all bands great and small hit the road for the traditional pre-Christmas push. These last four months of the year are generally jam packed with some cracking gigs and Birmingham's independent promoters have some of the best. I'm going to try to keep posting a few of these up here from time to time but for now here's a trio of must sees:



Birmingham Promoters - Carlo and co consistently put on some of the best new bands on planet earth and I can pretty much guarantee you'll find something to float your boat, tickle your fancy or fiddle with your widdle...whatever your taste. Pick of the pops for the next few months is the legend that is Har Mar Superstar (in his super new soulful guise) at The Hare & Hounds (14th November).



This Is Tmrw - This lot put on Foals at The Sunflower Lounge back in the day. I was there, squashed next to a particularly sweaty Yannis. Good times. Fast forward several years and hundreds of gigs later and they've still got great taste. This November sees them taking over The Hare & Hounds for the very first All Years Leaving festival featuring one of the best bands around right now, Dutch Uncles. Boy, can their lead singer bust a move...



World Unlimited - Folk, country, ceilidh, post punk, ska...you name it, World Unlimited puts it on. They've got the sensational John Otway on Sunday 22nd September and...be still my beating heart...the best bass player in the universe and one of the original Blockheads...Norman Watt-Roy (October 22nd). Both gigs are at...surprise, surprise...The Hare & Hounds (again...hmmmm...maybe I should move in?)

Like I say this is just a tiny selection of what's on. Brum Notes magazine has a great listings section each month (and a weekly breakdown online too) but it's always worth checking in with the promoters too as they sometimes have some rather ace last minute bookings. See you down the front...mine's a cider...cheers...and a packet of smoky bacon crisps...I'll get the next round in...honest...

International Cassette Store Day # 1 @ Swordfish Records, Saturday 7th September 2013

Having endured the trauma of having many a cassette ‘chewed up’ and spat out by various tape players over the years (oh the horror)...plus wasting many an hour trying to find particular tracks by having to fast forward/rewind through the damn things I’m amazed that they seem to be making a hip comeback. Whatever next? Dial up internet connections? Wax cylinders? Rickets? Still, anything that gets more people going into their local record store and buying music is fine by me and this afternoon’s event was hosted by Swordfish Records which, since its move to a new location a few months back, happily seems to be enjoying a new lease of life. Five bands / artists had pitched up to show some love for the old cassette and each played two or three tracks (hence the less than comprehensive review)...enough for a ‘cassingle’...ahem...as we called them back in the day.

Oliver Rudge was up first. He’s picking up some decent press right now and it’s not hard to hear why. There’s an easy going feel to his vocal and songs and Blue Neon’s build from fragile skeletal sketch to soaring climax impressed. 

After the breakup of folk hopefuls The Young Runaways some of the band has regrouped as Drakelow. Swallowing Diamonds is one of their first releases and this afternoon, stripped back to just guitar, violin and vocals, it still shone. I’ve long since given up predicting success for particular songs or bands (my success rate was woeful...either down to my lousy taste or that of the ‘public’...you be the judge) but, hell, it doesn’t take much of a leap to imagine this track going down a storm at Glasto one day. Top marks for their cover of The Wonderstuff’s Here Comes Everyone too. Miles’ would have been proud of that one. 

Next up Tom Peel...every home should have one. Ring Ring Ring takes that annoying modern phenomenon of the mobile phone ringtone and transforms it into a love song. Genius. He’s got dozens of songs like this though...all queuing up to find a home in your ears. Bonus points for using a vintage Tascam tape player in one of his songs too (hurrah), but points deducted for not bringing along some cassettes to flog (boooo!), something that Cannon Street had happily covered. In fact they’d gone beyond the call of duty by recording 5 unique tapes featuring two different songs on each plus a personal message on the B side...all for £3. Bless ‘em. To paraphrase pasty Masterchef scoff bucket and bar room brawler Greg Wallace, country folk tinged singing siblings don’t get much better than this. 

Last up Midnight Bonfires, another new-ish folk-ish band making waves in B-Town. I’d not seen them before but the lead singer’s voice (think the offspring of Devendra Banhart and Anthony...of ‘and the Johnsons’ fame) is a strangely beguiling thing. Opening number Darkness Falls was like being rocked to sleep by a hairy angel whilst the last number of their set sounded like Nirvana having a jam with The Faces round a campfire (no idea what it was called...answers on a postcard please).

Whether National Cassette Store Day will be cherished by music fans as passionately as its vinyl big brother remains to be seen. Despite my best intentions I found myself getting strangely nostalgic for those little plastic boxes though and left with 7 of ‘em...I know...I need therapy.  

Pages From Ceefax

Okay, so this is a little left field but that's how we like it eh? I've just come across a band/artist/collective...details are sketchy at the moment...who are releasing a series of albums allegedly culled from a stash of tapes recorded in the early 80s and found in an abandoned terrace house in Kings Heath (a suburb of Birmingham for anyone not in the know). It's a wonderful story...I strongly suspect...ahem...that it's just that but no one really wants to look under Santa's coat do they eh? Anyway, whatever the truth the albums are a head fuckingly wonderful mix of vintage sounds (think the BBC's Radiphonic Workshop on an acid trip) and thought shafting spoken word. I fricking love it. Strongly recommended...best not listened to whilst operating heavy machinery or attempting brain surgery though...that would get messy. Enjoy/endure...depending on whether you like Psychic TV or reality TV.

PS: Here's Tape One and Tape Two 

Tape Expectations...first International Cassette Day this weekend!

If there's one format that I thought we'd never see again it was the cassette tape. Being of a certain age I can remember when Sony Walkmans were first launched, giving you the chance to take your music with you wherever you went. Previously of course the only way to do this was to strap a reel to reel tape player to your chest...something that one of the artists - Tom Peel (see the video above) - performing at Birmingham's contribution to the first International Cassette Day actually does. Genius.

The cassette tape also gave you the chance to compile your own mixes of music, either using your vinyl, another tape (if you had a swanky double tape deck) or the radio as your source. How sweetly primitive all that now seems. Fearing that everyone would become a bootlegger and they'd lose sales the record labels even ran a campaign against home taping...HOME TAPING IS KILLING MUSIC...if only they know what the future held eh? Ha!

The trouble with tapes though was that it was frustratingly tricky (and time consuming) to fast forward or rewind to a particular track that you wanted to listen to. Also they had a tendency to get 'chewed up', a horrifying process which saw your precious tape unravel inside your player. Oh the horror...the horror. I think I lost a Thompson Twins album that way once...sniff. Nightmare. Sometimes you could rescue it and wind it back on the spool with your finger, at other times it was too far gone and a decent burial in the bin was the only option. Sad times.

Of course now the cassette tape has become all hip and retro trendy in much the same way that vinyl has, hence the very first International Cassette Day! Birmingham's event is being held at Swordfish Records in their new-ish home (66 Dalton Street, B4 7LX) from 4pm until around 5.30pm on Saturday 7th September. There'll be a number of artists playing special gigs too including Oliver Rudge, Midnight Bonfires, Drakelow, Cannon Street and the previously heralded Tom Peel. It's all free as well so you'll have some dosh left to buy some tapes. C30, C60, C90 go! Oh, if you have no idea what that's a reference to cop a load of this classic from the archives (the numbers refer to the minutes of recording the different types of tape could hold by the way)...

Moseley Folk Festival 2013, Friday 30th August – Sunday 1st September 2013

Oh lordy, the OAPs are right you know. The older you get the faster the years fly by. It seems like only yesterday that we were singing along lustily to All Around My Hat (the degree of lustiness being in direct proportion to the quantity of cider consumed) and yet here we are again at another MoFo. I’m not complaining, it’s the bit between festivals that gets my goat...real life I think it’s called. Jolly silly idea.

Day One

Every year I say the same thing but I’m a creature of habit so what the hell, let’s say it again...I love the Friday afternoons at MoFo. Arriving early, grabbing that first pint of cider...knowing that most poor souls are still at work, chilling out with the opening acts, watching the place gradually fill up as the sun starts to set...glorious. There are always some cracking acts on offer too and this year was no exception. Abie’s Miracle Tonic’s mix of ragtime, swing, spirituals and anything else that takes their fancy was a joy from start to finish. If only all bands had a kazoo fuelled theme tune.

With a six piece brass section Forestears added some neat tropical / jazzy flavours to their Wild Beasts meets Villagers fusion before Seth Lakeman favourites Philip Henry and Hannah Martin cleverly combined a song about a nail makers strike in Bromsgrove in 1862 with some reggae grooves and lyrics from a track by The Israelites. Some folk purists might run screaming to the hills clutching their Aran jumpers but it’s this kind of cross pollination that will keep folk...and any other musical genre for that matter...alive and well. It worked rather brilliantly too. Stirring stuff.

Pogonophobics (that’s people who are scared of beards...bound to be worth a point in a pub quiz one day) might want to avoid The Travelling Band but they’d be missing out. Playing the kind of anthemic grab yer mates in a sweaty headlock kind of tracks that prove they know their arse from their Elbow (just listen to recent single Hands Up for instance) they’ve also got the sweeter southern tinged country angle covered with one of the set highlights, a dreamily sun drenched (yes, yet another sunny Moseley Folk Festival...I always said Mother Nature was a folkie) run through Battlescars.

Up at the small but well appointed (it’s right next to the bar) Tennis Court Stage Tom Peel continued to do what he does best, culminating in arguably one of his best tracks to date When I Die during which – in a typically Peel-ian moment – the reel to reel tape player strapped to his chest did just that, sending a spool of tape drooling across the floor. Music needs this man more than ever before (check out his awesome subscription club...he’s promising one of his kidneys for all members...er...actually I think he may have dropped that offer now...).

How a band can make getting drunk sound so dreamily romantic is a mystery to me but The Leisure Society did just that on We Were Wasted. There’s so much more to them than bruised romanticism though, Fight For Everyone’s the kind of clever pop that Cowell and his evil crew of bland production monkey’s seem determined to kill off. Balls to ‘em. With the last number of the set, A Matter of Time, effortlessly fusing the spirits of Buddy Holly and George Harrison to produce something that could lift the weariest of souls...and the chilled out early evening crowd, there’s hope for us all.

In the beginning was the word ...and the word was Goodnight Lenin...actually that’s two words isn’t it? Oh well, never mind...the point is that Goodnight Lenin’s album seems to have been in the pipeline since before the Book Of Genesis. This matters because more people need to hear this band and, short of sending the boys round the house of every single man, woman and child in the country, an album’s a pretty good way of doing it. As with recent Lenin gigs the mellower tracks, whilst still in evidence, are gradually being joined by ‘beefier’ numbers and the band are allowing themselves to rock out more, as in new song Mirror in the Morning (which makes me think of Nights In White Satin on speed). As with their idol, Neil Young, this combination works surprisingly well. 

Lead singer, John Fell, is a lyricist beyond his years too with songs embracing love, loss and loneliness. It’s a mark of the band’s collective ability that they manage to do all this and still get people singing along with set closer Old Cold Hands’ distinctly existential chorus (“It’s hard to realise that there is relentlessly nothing”) getting a particularly impressive response. I’ve loved ‘em since day one and I’ll love ‘em after they’ve split up, reformed, split up and the landed their own sitcom on Sky. Maybe by then that debut album will be out eh?

By the time Ocean Colour Scene came onstage the place was packed. It’s unsurprising really, this is their spiritual home and tonight they’re playing their definitive album, Moseley Shoals, in its entirety. If you’re in your 30s or 40s there’s a fair chance that The Riverboat Song will send you hurtling back to Friday nights in the 90s when the track was used on TFI Friday which, at the time, was pretty much essential viewing (either before going out or after you stumbled home with a kebab and traffic cone). Somehow I managed to avoid seeing the band live back in the day so this, some 16 or so years after they hit the big time (Moseley Shoals shifted an impressive 600,000 copies in 1996) was my first time. THAT riff at the start of The Riverboat Song still sounds massive, proudly retro at the time (a throwback to the 60s mod era) it now oddly comes across a little fresher, set as it is in a world where this kind of guitar music’s perhaps still currently a little out of favour. 

Following the album’s track by track progression brings The Day We Caught The Train up next. A little bit Beatles, a little bit Faces it’s enough to get the forty something’s misty eyed. “We’re playing the whole Moseley Shoals album” remarked lead singer Simon Fowler “so the best two songs have already been played!”  He was joking of course. The whole Britpop tag may still have a stigma attached to it (that’ll pass, perhaps it already has) but it really was a golden age for British music and Moseley Shoals is right up there as a classic, not just of that era but a classic full stop and the crowd (possibly the biggest audience ever seen at Moseley Folk) lapped up every note. After the album run through there was still time for a few more with the acoustic Robin Hood swiftly followed by the band’s joint biggest hit, Hundred Mile High City. Touchingly the set finished with a tribute to the recently departed Jon Brookes (The Charlatans drummer) and folk legend Ian Campbell, courtesy of a moving version of Fairport’s Meet On The Ledge.  I started the set with a healthy level of scepticism (a bit too ‘lad rock’ for me) but left as a fan. Colour me impressed.

Day Two

Kicking off (for me at least...blame West Midlands Transport for that one...is the number one bus service some kind of surrealist prank?) with Jack Harrison and Adrian Simpson, what Radiohead might sound like if they decided to go folk, Day Two was another delightfully eclectic mix. Ottersgear’s fiddle driven folk impressed with lead singer Mikey Kenney’s fragile soaring vocals possibly one of the strongest on offer all weekend.

All the way from Montreal (good job they didn’t travel by West Midlands Transport then) The Barr Brothers dropped in a couple of rather awesome heavy blues numbers in amongst their quieter American folk stuff, the pick of the bunch being a storming version of the Blind Willie Johnson number Lord I Just Can’t Keep From Cryin’. The drummer gets bonus points for playing an old bicycle wheel too.

Cannon Street continue to grow in confidence, working their way up the bill from the Tennis Court Stage last year to The Lunar Stage this time around. At this rate they’ll be headlining by 2014. With some truly stunning sibling harmonies (they’re sisters) and tracks that straddle the line between childlike innocence and wonder and the more adult world that they’re both entering their set’s a delight. St Mary’s View’s still my own personal favourite – You Tube it and check out that chorus – beautiful. Somehow they even pulled off a cover of Anthony’s Hope There’s Someone, not an easy track to cover at all and whilst it lacked the original’s haunting sense of isolation (could anyone emulate that?) it’s the kind of ambitious and leftfield choice that makes this pairing one to watch.

“This is genuinely the sweetest festival I’ve ever played”. Jack Savoretti may have been swayed by the adoring female fans that gathered at his feet (to be fair you would, you know what I mean...well I would anyway...how about it Jacky boy?) but he makes a good point. 

That mix of good looks and gravelly just got out of bed voice (hints of John Martyn on stuff like Crazy Fool perhaps...that’s praise indeed) is a powerful combination and when he swings it a bit on the more upbeat numbers...step forward Knock Knock...there’s so much more to him than just eye candy for the ladies. Crazy Superstition, a track apparently lambasted by one German gentleman recently as being a crap 60s song actually came across as one of his best. But then again the German’s see The Hoff as a musical god so what can we expect eh?

Global Folk’s tabla, violin and kora mash up wins the most intriguing sound of the festival award and it’s fitting that MoFo’s definition of ‘folk’ stretches way beyond this green and pleasant land. When the result sounds this good I’d personally like to see and hear more of it on future bills.

How sweet are The Staves? Another line up of sisters (three this time) they’re straight outta Watford but, on the divine sounding Mexico, you could be forgiven for thinking they came from heaven itself. Just to prove it wasn’t a fluke they played Facing West too, the song equivalent of a being wrapped up in cotton wool...by doves. Like Jack (you still would, wouldn’t you?) they were also impressed with the festival, here’s Camilla’s quote for next year’s ad “Thoroughly nice...some bird from Watford”. Bless.

After (or Efter perhaps?) the lullaby folk of Alessi’s Ark’s Constellations caressed the crowd Efterklang’s lead singer channelled his inner 30s lounge lizard (white suit, slicked back hair, cigarette dangling from his lips, evoking comparisons with everyone from Roxy Music and The Associates through to the mournful world weariness of Tindersticks. On the emotional epic of Frida Found a Friend he ended up battering the stage with drumsticks (I think they’d set up mics specially to pick up the noise) adding an intense audio visual element on top of an already visceral experience. It was just one moment in a set that dripped with them, at times hauntingly moving at others as ass shakingly addictive as the best in artful 80s pop. Truly great Danes.

Top that? British Sea Power pulled out all the stops, decorating the stage with more branches than Greggs (seriously, you half expected David Attenborough to emerge from the undergrowth in the arms of a gorilla) and jamming the set with all their hits to date. Dressed like the escape committee of a POW camp recent single Machineries of Joy got the fans at the front bouncing along and they remained impressively energetic...especially when a giant flag waving polar bear emerged for the chiming guitar led singalong of...well, have a guess...Waving Flags. 

The fact that their newer songs came across as the strongest in the set, Loving Animals was particularly good, bodes well for a band already into their second decade. Whatever you make of the music any band that sends a giant polar bear and equally huge black bear into the crowd for a spot of moshing at the end of their set get my vote.

If British Sea Power entertained Wolf People astonished with one of the most dazzling displays of musicianship of the whole weekend...or ever in fact. Playing heavy psych folk with riffs so dirty they’re in danger of being investigated by Operation Yewtree this band sound like the bastard child of Sabbath and Cream at a pagan sacrifice. Opening number All Returns is one of the singles of the year and the rest of the set wasn’t too shabby either. I took no notes during the set...I was too busy trying to scrape my jaw off the floor.

After suffering not one but TWO cerebral haemorrhages in 2005 there seemed to be little chance that Edwyn Collins would survive, let alone walk and talk again. The fact that he’s not only doing just that but also playing gigs and releasing new music again is frankly a miracle. Coming onstage a little unsteadily with a stick he settled down on an amp and, hesitating just a little over his introduction, launched into a greatest hits set with Falling and Laughing from 1980, “Imagine that kids” he observed with a chuckle. He did a lot of chuckling this evening, who can blame him eh? 

Listening to some of the earlier songs it’s tempting now to read new meaning into all the lyrics, has his wife Grace not been A Girl Like You (her loving support’s clearly been hugely important)? Make Me Feel Again’s Harrison-esque lyrics and feel (“just need your bedside manner to make me well again) is strangely prophetic and has he not had to Rip It And Start Again...his whole life that is? Whether you buy into that or not there was a huge amount of love in the crowd this evening and Edwyn and the band (kudos to the amazing guitarist by the way...up there with the Wolf People dudes) and he repaid it with a joyfully life affirming set that said more about the healing power of music than anything I’ve ever witnessed.  

Day Three

The third day’s always the folkiest of the three and this year was no exception with The Cadbury Sisters (yep, another great sister act) bringing some more sweet but sorrowful sibling harmonies on Where’s Annie Now? and something a little darker on the haunting Animals (from a Wispa to a scream as it were...).

Tir na nOg deserved a later slot. Formed in Ireland in 1969 they’re a fine folk band with prog rock leanings, a range best demonstrated by the Cat Stevens-ish opening number Daisy Lady and their fine cover of The Stones’ Play With Fire. I was dragged away by the prospect of an unscheduled appearance from Sam Walter, a young chap who works at the festival emptying the bins but who also has one of the most extraordinarily expressive voices I’ve ever heard. 

Musically he delves back into obscure folk songs of the (I’m guessing here) 18^th and 19^th centuries, performing them with the kind of vim and vigour than makes Brian Blessed seem like a church mouse. One second he’s singing as sweetly as an angel the next as lusty as a drunken lord. It’s a truly awesome sight and sound and the fact that just a handful of us were there to see it is a real shame. Hunt him out and you’ll never listen to folk music in the same way again.

David Campbell was on hand to continue the proud folk traditions his dad Ian, bringing one of the song’s made famous by his father, D Day Dodgers (written by Lance Sergeant Harry Pynn according to Wikipedia), to life. He paved the way for a new generation of folk star, Kathryn Priddy, to bewitch the crowd with her ethereal (it’s a bit of a cliché but there really isn’t a better word to sum her up) vocals and lit rich lyrics. She’s not the first female singer to take inspiration from Wuthering Heights (step forward Kate Bush) and opening number My Love crackles with that novel’s doomed romanticism. The covers were good (Nick Drake’s Cello Song...not an easy one to play...and the trad classic She Moves Through The Fair) but I think she’s just written her first big hit in Darling. Trust me, you heard it here first. Put a fiver on it. A new folk star in the making.

After a flying visit to catch Dan Whitehouse’s fine brand of observational (Three Bodies) and uplifting songwriting (Somebody Loves You) it was a quick dash back down for folk’s answer to Ab Fab’s Bubble, Kate Rusby. 

That’s a compliment by the way, Kate’s between song banter was a delight and her scatty self effacing humour belies one of the greatest female folk voices around right now. With a set including classics The Good Man, The Elfin Knight, Awkward Annie and Planets, all tracks familiar to Rusby’s fans (who were out in force this afternoon) the whole thing was a treat from start to finish. Loved the bit where the band fused traditional folk tunes with the theme tunes from the A Team and the Muppets by the way. Ha!

The Klatsh Klezmer band soundtracked the by now traditional straw wars (basically several bales are straw are deposited in the crowd who tear them to pieces and chuck it all in the air) leaving The Be Good Tanyas to pick up the pieces. Sadly one of their members (Samantha Parton) has a brain tumour but Caroline Bullhorn did a fine job as her stand in, lending her voice to the band’s laid back brand of country and bluegrass. It wasn’t all chilled out though, new(ish) song September Fields had a vaguely disco beat behind it (well, as disco at The Be Good Tanyas get) whilst Rain and Snow (from debut album Blue Horse) seemed to embrace its inner reggae (it’s there, have a listen) roots more than ever before. An uplifting wander through Here Comes The Sun, dedicated to the recently departed Richie Havens, saw the great orange ball in the sky continue to oblige.

Missed most of Gordie MacKeeman’s set as they were scheduled to appear earlier in the day and I’d wandered off in search of cider which was a shame. The bit I did see was hoedown inspired madness of the finest order with Gordie seemingly mounting everything (steady now) on stage before leaping off in a fiddle playing blur.

The average age of the audience at the front of the crowd suddenly dropped by around 20 years with the appearance of Lucy Rose. In just a couple of years Rose has released some impressive tunes, adding a little funky groove and a touch of math rock (that certainly came across this evening anyway) to the more traditional folk vibe. Shiver was so chilled they could’ve served it in the mojitos in the cocktail bar whilst Lines’ chorus pierces through the verses like a needle through the heart. 

Although she admitted to nerves before the show, unsure how a ‘folk’ crowd would take her, it was strong performance capped off with a spiky version of Bikes that saw the teen fans dancing in that gloriously awkward but strangely unselfconscious way that eludes anyone over the age of 20.

The Dirty Old Folkers (the name says it all) continued their mission to corrupt the nation’s youth, and everyone else for that matter, with songs about wanking (Spank the Monkey) and rimming Hobbits (Lord of the ‘Rings’). The mash up of I Will Survive, Daytrip to Bangor and War Pigs (seriously) on the latter track has to be heard to be believed. Add a dancing panda and death (replete with his scythe) and you’ve got a show that out gaga’s Ms Germanotta. Brilliantly bonkers.

The Dubliners were legends in the folk world and whilst all of the original band have either retired or passed away three members of its last incarnation are carrying on as The Dublin Legends. 

Of course this music transcends line up changes. Many of these songs echo down the generations and over the course of 90 minutes they blazed through what amounts to an Now That’s What I Call Irish Folk Music greatest hits collection. Black Velvet Band, The Rare Auld Times, Seven Drunken Nights (“Awwww yer’ drunk yer drunk you silly owl fule”...a number of the crowd were only too pleased to oblige...there’ll be some hangovers today), Dirty Ol’ Town, Whiskey In The Jar, The Irish Rover...you couldn’t get more Irish if you pickled yourself in Guinness and stuck a Shamrock in your ear. The crowd (even the less well lubricated ones) sung along as lustily as I’ve ever heard at Moseley Folk Festival and you’d need a heart of blarney stone to fail to be moved by the mass singalong of Molly Mallone. I’m still breaking out into the odd burst of “Alive alive ohhhh...” as I write this in fact.

After 8 years MoFo somehow retains its magic. The setting, the people, the bands, the timing (that cusp between summer and autumn is somehow strangely moving) combine to deliver a truly special weekend and all concerned deserve yet another pat on the back...and some cockles and mussels...alive alive ohhh (see?) for continuing to put it on.

PS: Vin Garbutt and Richard Thompson for 2014 please...

David Byrne and St Vincent @ Symphony Hall, Wednesday 28th August

When it comes to surprising collaborations new wave polymath David Byrne has previous form. Just take his hook up with Fatboy Slim on the Imelda Marcos musical Here Lies Love. Seriously...it happened. Google it. So joining forces with ex Polyphonic Spree disciple turned quirky solo artist in her own right St Vincent shouldn’t really have come as much of a shock. Listen carefully and you might even pick up some shared lyrical and vocal traits too, it really doesn’t take much imagination to hear Byrne coming up with St Vincent’s 2009 track Laughing With a Mouth Of Blood for instance.

It’s 30 years since Talking Heads’ big commercial breakthrough courtesy of Speaking In Tongues (coincidently St Vincent - aka Annie Clark - was making a bit of a breakthrough of her own around the same time...being born), but despite being over twice her age Byrne (61 years young) looks impressively spritely and fresh up on stage tonight, almost as if the whole collaboration’s breathed new life into him.

After 15 minutes of ambient rainforest sounds (which send a fair few of the predominantly middle aged audience scurrying off to the loo) he and St Vincent come on stage accompanied by an 8 piece brass band. With Byrne’s silver grey locks and St Vincent’s dyed blonde hair they make a cute couple (there’s nothing ‘going on’ as far as I know but clearly there’s a lot of affection and mutual admiration between the pair), kicking off the set with Who, the curiously catchy first single from their album together Love This Giant. An oddball mix of funk and vaguely Middle Eastern sounding vocal breaks from St Vincent it’s a fine example of Byrne’s ability to come up with something that’s undeniably arty and yet winningly...er...charty (see also pretty much all of Talking Heads’ singles) all at the same time. Like pretty much every track that followed it featured some simple but effective choreography too. Byrne’s always jigged around a bit onstage, perfecting an oddly cool looking form of dad dancing that few white men can pull off. St Vincent’s a nifty mover too, employing a slightly scary tottering backwards and forwards motion that makes her look like a doll on a travellator. Add to this a plain backdrop with some stark but effective lighting casting giant shadows and the show’s got plenty for the eyes as well as the ears to revel in.

Let’s get one thing straight, tonight isn’t the David Byrne show. The set’s a perfectly balanced mix of his solo stuff, Talking Heads numbers, his collaboration with St Vincent and her own (new to most of the audience I’m guessing) material. In fact Byrne often seems to shun the limelight, happy to act as St Vincent’s backing dancer on her tracks, just adding the odd distinctive vocal embellishment here and there. It’s a generous move in some ways but St Vincent deserves the respect. 

From the domestic angst ridden anthem Save Me From What I Want through to the more visceral Marrow, transformed this evening into a bombastic brassathon (so much more powerful than its original synth based version), she’s a revelation. Surrounded by the band lying prostrate on the floor she came across as both vulnerable and powerful (something she does particularly well...like a kitten with a Kalashnikov) at the same time on another of her solo numbers, Cheerleader. That’s a neat trick if you can pull it off. She’s a pretty impressive guitarist too, seemingly as comfortably laying down some fret melting funk as she is playing the gentler, more intricate stuff.

Whilst St Vincent may be new to most Byrne’s output is hard wired into the brains of anyone with ears. Wild Wild Life, Lazy (which sounds particularly good in its brassed up form and gives each member of the 8 piece band the chance to sing a line...bless ‘em), Burning Down The House and show closer Road To Nowhere predictably all (double cliché alert) go down a storm (that’s cliché number one...tick) with St Vincent’s voice the proverbial cherry on the cake (boom...two clichés in one sentence...I’m on fire today).     

Despite these obvious crowd pleasers the Love This Giant tracks more than held their own though, with the vocal harmonies of I Am An Ape, the naggingly catchy chorus of Weekend In Dust (damn that’s some funky shit) and the oddball melting pot of Who in particular  all lodging themselves firmly in your brain and refusing to leave. What strikes you most is that they really do seem to bring the best out of each other, 1 + 1 = 3 as it were, add the brass (an odd concept on paper perhaps but it just works so well) and it’s a grin inducingly irresistible combination. On more than one occasion St Vincent seemingly can’t believe she’s up there and, towards the end of the show, she mused about how her 5 year old self (the first time she can remember hearing Byrne’s music) would have reacted to finding herself on stage with possibly her first and perhaps most significant musical hero. She wasn't the only one who counted herself lucky to be there, as the standing ovation at the end of the main set ably demonstrated. 

Where do they go from here? Will this be one of Byrne’s ‘roads to nowhere’ one offs or is this the start of something really special? Who the hell knows, on previous form I’m guessing it’ll sadly be the former though which makes these shows even more unmissable. Love This Giant? You betcha.

Setlist: Who/Weekend in the Dust/Save Me From What I Want/ Strange Overtones/I Am An Ape/Marrow/This Must Be The Place/The Forest Awakes/Ice Age/Lightning/Wild Wild Life/Cheerleader/Lazy/I Should Watch TV/Northern Lights/The One Who Broke Your Heart/Outside Of Space and Time

Encore 1: Cruel/Burning Down The House

Encore 2: The Party/Road To Nowhere

Photos courtesy of the lovely Wayne Fox

Thomas Dolby's Invisible Lighthouse Tour

When Dolby emigrated to the US in the 90s and invented the Nokia ringtone thingy (as well as developing some fancy pants file format for downloading music) it looked likely that his performing days were over, over here in the UK at least. Happily he's not only back in his homeland he's also touring and releasing new music too, with 2011's A Map Of The Floating City including some truly top notch tracks. Now he's off on a new tour showcasing a film he's made, inspired by his current coastal retreat. Predictably being Dolby there's a bit of a twist and it seems as though he's going to be soundtracking the movie live as it's being shown. This is one of those 'whoops no net' concepts that few performers would even think about attempting but if anyone can pull it off it's this dude. An irresistibly different show from an equally distinctive talent.

PS: Expect to hear all the hits in this show too...stuff like this...

Robbie Williams hooks up with Coventry man...

After leaving the Take That fold again old Robbie's back out on the road. Whatever you might think of the man and his music he is, it has to be said, a pretty ruddy entertaining performer. I've only seen him 'in the flesh' once, back when he played Glastonbury, where he justifiably cemented his reputation as a massive crowd pleaser, the likes of which we rarely see these days. From big hairy blokes to ickle kids, grannies to trannies, pot heads to acid casualties it was one of those hug your neighbour kind of shows. Anyway, I digress, a mate of mine from school days is a HUGE fan and follows Robbie around the world, earning money as an international hit man along the way (I can't imagine how else he makes the dosh to do this). To me that level of devotion is frankly awe inspiring. Sleeping on the pavement to get to the front, standing in the wind/rain/snow/blistering heat for hours, drinking your own urine to survive (again, I have no other idea how else people survive at the front of these enormogigs)...it's staggering. After doing all this for years it seems that our Robbie spotted him in the crowd and...well...just watch the video.

Introducing Oh Land

I say Introducing Oh land, who knows, you might already be a fully paid up member of this 28 year old Danish singer/songwriter and record producer's fan club. Somehow I doubt it though as her profile here in the UK is lower than a belly dancing snake. She's been around for a few years but maybe signing to TV On The Radio dude Dave Sitek's record label to release her new album, Wish Bone, on 23rd September will get her the attention she deserves. It should do. New single, Renaissance Girls, is so freakishly addictive I'm considering checking myself into The Priory. A little bit pop, a little bit electro she's a cross between Kelis (check out My Boxer), Lana Del Ray and Lady Gaga with a dash of Katy Perry thrown in for good measure. Judging by some of her earlier tracks, see Wolf and I for instance, this current incarnation's a bit of a departure though. Hmmmm. One to watch...  

Moseley Folk...going, going...

Okay, if you want to go to one of the loveliest festivals around, Moseley Folk, you've got hours...minutes...nay, maybe even seconds to sort it out. Tickets for Friday have all gone and the full weekend ones went faster than Usain Bolt but I believe there are still a few Saturday and Sunday day and Saturday+Sunday  tickets left. This will sell out...it always does these days...and you don't want to miss stuff like this do you eh?











Tickets here...or maybe not...depending on when you read this.

The Never Regular New Music Roundup

It’s been so long since I did one of these I feel the need to explain what the heck it is. I get sent a load of emails with new stuff in, I listen to it, I sort the wheat from the chaff (in my own humble opinion of course) and serve it up for your delectation so you can impress your friends with your hipness when this stuff becomes a big hit (or sadly not as the case maybe) in a few months time. Hear/here we go then...

Sharkmuffin – Mermaid Sex Slave

Is it me or has there suddenly been a bit of a surge in all girl/lady/female bands? By this I mean ‘proper’ bands by the way, not generic X Factor style hit machines...bands that play/write/sing their own music. Savages seem to be making the biggest waves at the moment but Sharkmuffin can’t be far behind with their rebooting of late 90s Riot Grrrl garage pop. See also Pins, who bring more of a trippy 60s vibe to proceedings: 

Patterns – Sunny Days 

Okay, this fetish for producing deeply disturbing videos is getting out of hand. What the funk is this all about? Aggghhhhhh!!! You people is sickkkkk. Still, it’s a good tune from Costa Rican synth band (yes, you read that right) Patterns. It’s a bit Friends, a bit CSS, a bit Summer Camp and – if you can blank the video out of your mind with some therapy – ruddy lovely.

Lizzieand the Yes Men – Unstoppable

Sounding not unlike the late lamented Doll & The Kicks in places this track's got a touch of the Joe Meeks about it too...at least to my frazzled ears. A fine vocal from Lizzie (I’m guessing she’s called Lizzie). A real grower as we say in the business (yeah, okay so I’m not in the ‘business’ but I can dream eh?).

HEARTSREVOLUTION - $ex

Oh dear...there’s no need for this is there? Filth, pure filth. Splutter, splutter...Dear Daily Mail...etc etc. I’m guessing this is actually a devastating critique of the porn culture that seems to be remarkably attractive to some young girls these days, but then again it might just be another big dumb dance ‘banger’ from the ever reliable Kitsune label.

Untitled Musical Project – The People vs Michael Miller

Okay, before anyone points out that this track’s at least 6 years old there’s a reason for its inclusion. UMP have reformed! Hotly tipped for greatness back in the day they split a few years back – unexplained musical differences I’m guessing – but now they’re back, back, BACK to burst eardrums and cause carnage all over again. Just two live dates announced so far (one in London, one in their hometown on Brum) but then, who knows...if there’s any justice in this big, bad old world global domination surely beckons.

  

The Courtesy Group to headline Sunday Xpress!

If you’ve not yet seen the unique marvellous musical maelstrom that is The Courtesy Group (Can meets The Fall meets PiL meets that bloke who walks up to you with a bottle of White Lightning cider and starts speaking in tongues) then stick Sunday 1^st September in your diary and head on down to The Adam and Eve in deepest, darkest Digbeth for a shot of the good stuff courtesy (as it were) of Sunday Xpress.

These Sunday Xpress sessions have been going on since 2006 and, on top of some suitably bostin’ headline acts, there are some open mic slots available from around 4pm too. So if you fancy a shot at fame and fortune without having to sell your soul/ass to Simon Cowell just pop over to the event’s Facebook page to book one.

Joining the Courtesy Group on the night (they’ll be onstage around 8.30-ish) will be Citizen X and the cost...oh yeah...it’s frickin’ FREE! Get in.

Jon Brookes RIP

Really sad news today about the death of The Charlatans drummer Jon Brookes. Beyond his role in the band he seemed to be an all round good bloke, as evidenced by the tidal wave of overwhelmingly loving comments out there in social media land. 44 really is no age but if you're going to go then how much better it is to leave behind such a positive legacy eh? RIP.

It's 'Hall' good...coming soon to Birmingham's Town and Symphony Halls

Birmingham’s Town and Symphony Halls have got some really impressive stuff coming up with highlights including an all too rare gig from David Byrne and Saint Vincent (Symphony Hall, August 28^th), The Heritage Orchestra’s radical reworking of Joy Division's music (Symphony Hall, September 28^th), a one off show from acid jazzers Brand New Heavies (Town Hall, September 6^th) Bowie favourites and rock legends Mott The Hoople (Symphony Hall, November 11^th) and the bard of Barking himself, Billy Bragg (Symphony Hall, 24^th November). Not too shabby eh? 

For a full line up of events check out their website and get booking. 

Summer Camp - Fresh

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh...I love Summer Camp. Seriously. How good is this? It's a bit old school Hollywood and a little disco with just a touch of funk and a dash of 80s pop...all wrapped up in one gorgeous cute as a button package. It's the kind of track that makes me want to don a smoking jacket and recline on a chaise longue puffing away nonchalantly at pipe and supping a vintage brandy or two. As I don't own a smoking jacket, chaise longue or bottle of vintage brandy for that matter I'll have to make do with a chicken kebab and a pint of cider on the sofa but still, we can all dream eh?

'Knife' to hear this again...

Given the unseasonable summer weather we’ve been having his year...unseasonable in the sense that it’s not piddled it down EVERY SINGLE DAY...I’ve been humming various summer time tunes and recently found myself attracted to the sadly underrated Young Knives classic Weekends and Bleakdays (Hot Summer) which I’ll forever associate with my glorious career in advertising back in 2006 (the last time we had a ‘hot summer' in fact). On more than one occasion I was indeed tempted to “pull a sickie” and “do a runner” but, driven by some kind of weird guilt (damn my work ethic), I never did. Well, almost never. Anyway it’s another flimsy excuse to stick another track that I like up here and while we’re at it let’s give one of the band’s new tunes an airing too.  Suffice to say it’s a bit different. Wibbly synths ahoy! Here you go...

The band's new Kickstarter funded album Sick Octave’s out in September and they’re off on tour in September / October as well. Heartily recommended... 

Layers release debut EP!

The last time I saw Layers live their lead singer was memorably somersaulting through the air in the relatively low ceilinged basement of The Sunflower Lounge...a move that could so easily have resulted in, at best, concussion and at worst complete decapitation (somehow he avoided both). It’s typical of a band that’s willing to take the odd risk or two though, as demonstrated by the last track, Gradually, on their rather fine debut EP (handily also called Layers). Clocking in at nearly 8 minutes it’s a slow burning epic, complete with acapella breaks, lush strings and full on rock outs, a pretty ambitious concoction to attempt for a band barely a year old eh? Elsewhere songs are a little more conventional but no less impressive. Opening number The Walking Dead pummels you into submission from the very first note, Hands recalls some of System Of A Down’s finest moments and Mind On Fire is a pure pedal to the metal head banger. That just leaves Not Enough, one of the best examples of their more funk tinged soulful numbers that perhaps sets them apart from so many of their peers. To celebrate the EP's release Layers are hooking up with Emp!re, Dead Sea Skulls and Mutes for a special gig at the 02 Academy (Birmingham) on Friday 20th September...thankfully the ceiling's a lot higher there so the risk of cranial catastrophe should be pretty minimal. 

Tickets are a bargaintastic £5 and available right here...or perhaps from one of those friendly but ever so slightly dodgy ticket touts who always seem to be outside both the Institute and the Academy every single night...often at the same time. Hmmmm...maybe they've been cloned? 

PS: The EP's out on Till Deaf Do Us Party Records on 16th September. 

Wooden Horse – This Kind Of Trouble

Building on their rather darn fine debut album, What Comes Around, Wooden Horse are back with the follow up This Kind Of Trouble, another mightily impressive collection of mainly self penned songs from Worcester's finest purveyors of Americana. There’s the same authentic feel of the debut with lead singer Jamie Knight’s careworn vocals adding that touch of true touch of pain that real country blues demands and Ben Church painting in the background colours with some typically fine slide guitar playing. Long time live partner in crime pianist Stuart McIlroy’s on board too, notably bringing the boogie woogie to a rollicking cover of J.J. Cale’s (who sadly passed away just a few days ago) Crazy Momma and the Horse’s equally fine track You Ain’t Letting Me Down. Perhaps it’s the more reflective songs that are this album’s best calling cards though with the mournful laments of The Walking Rain and album closer Time I’s Leaving both striking that perfect balance between defeat and defiance. “Cos I wake up feelin’ empty, have to find a new best friend” sings Jamie on the latter, sounding for all the world like a dude setting off alone down a dusty track somewhere in the deep mid-west (as opposed to the deep West Midlands). Trouble never sounded so good. 

This Kind Of Trouble is out on 30th August 2013.