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Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Shindig! Magazine are media partners for THE LIVERPOOL INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF PSYCHEDELIA
Weirldore all-dayer cancelled
From the desk of Ian Anderson, editor of fRoots Magazine
We are sad to report the cancellation of Weirdlore
Weirdlore was to have been a fabulous all-dayer of psych folk and beyond, taking place in Bristol on Sunday 10th June, with an imaginative bill of some of the most intriguing artists from the English folk underground. You can find full details of what might have been at weirdlore.com
Unfortunately the proverbial "circumstances beyond our control" - a common euphemism for the recession, the cuts, the Jubilee, the Olympics and all the other factors currently seriously blighting live music in the UK - meant that advance ticket sales nowhere near matched the apparent enthusiasm being shown for the event. As a result we have very regretfully taken the decision to cancel to avoid a large financial loss and a disappointing atmosphere. All ticket buyers have been notified and had their payments refunded.
The only silver lining is that the event had already inspired a compilation CD. Weirdlore: Notes From The Folk Underground - with 18 original and specially recorded tracks including many of the artists who had been due to perform on the day - will be released by the go-ahead Folk Police label on 11th June, distributed nationally by Proper Music.
Weirdlore was to have been a fabulous all-dayer of psych folk and beyond, taking place in Bristol on Sunday 10th June, with an imaginative bill of some of the most intriguing artists from the English folk underground. You can find full details of what might have been at weirdlore.com
Unfortunately the proverbial "circumstances beyond our control" - a common euphemism for the recession, the cuts, the Jubilee, the Olympics and all the other factors currently seriously blighting live music in the UK - meant that advance ticket sales nowhere near matched the apparent enthusiasm being shown for the event. As a result we have very regretfully taken the decision to cancel to avoid a large financial loss and a disappointing atmosphere. All ticket buyers have been notified and had their payments refunded.
The only silver lining is that the event had already inspired a compilation CD. Weirdlore: Notes From The Folk Underground - with 18 original and specially recorded tracks including many of the artists who had been due to perform on the day - will be released by the go-ahead Folk Police label on 11th June, distributed nationally by Proper Music.
More info at folkpolicerecordings.com
The Beach Boys announce Euro dates
Brain Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, and David Marks have a new album out next week, That's Why God Made The Radio, and they also hit the road this weekend, beginning in (where else but) California.
European/Far East Dates so far announced
July 21 — Ávila, Spain (Festival Músicos en la Naturaleza)
July 23 — Barcelona, Spain (Poble Espanyol)
July 26 — Rome, Italy (Ippodromo delle Capannelle)
July 27 — Milan, Italy (Civic Arena)
July 29 — Gothenburg, Sweden (Tradgaardsforeningen)
July 31 — Oslo, Norway (Spektrum)
Aug. 1 — Aarhus, Denmark (Musikhuset Aarhus, Amfiscenen)
Aug. 3 — Berlin, Germany (O2 World Arena)
Aug. 4 — Stuttgart, Germany (Hanns-Martin-Schleyerhalle)
Aug. 5 — Monchengladbach, Germany (Hockey Park)
Aug. 7 — Lokeren, Belgium (Lokerse Festival)
Aug. 16 — Tokyo, Japan (QVC Marine Field)
Aug. 17 — Osaka, Japan (Oskaka Prefectural Gymnasium)
Aug. 19 — Nagoya, Japan (Gaishi Hall)
Aug. 22 — Kallang, Singapore (Singapore Indoor Stadium)
Sept. 28 — London, England, UK (Wembley Stadium)
Tickets for Wembley Arena go on sale this Friday, June 1st.
Record Review – Mangoo
MANGOO
Neverland
Mangoo from Turku, Finland are a recent
signing to Small Stone and this is their second album of scuzzy stoner rock, containing
a variety of arrangements and instrumentation that aren’t generally found in
your usual low-slung fuzzy fare.
The
band certainly have a knack with a riff and chorus, veering towards pop at some
points with their memorable hook-laden songwriting. They employ an enjoyably
squelchy synth throughout and have a sometimes experimental bent – utilised particularly
nicely on banjo-blues number ‘Home’. Sadly this experimentation can also see
them come a cropper – such as in the violin-laden ‘Deathmint’ which reeks of
bad euro metal or the odd harmonies of ‘Diamond in the Rough’ which feel like
they were parachuted in from a ’90s indie track.
There’s
enough big choruses and cool riffage on tracks like ‘Neverland’ and ‘You,
Robot’ to make this a worthwhile listen but it’s a slightly patchy album
overall, with at least one slow moody number too many. The experimentation is
intriguing though doesn’t produce consistently good results throughout. Hopefully the band will keep moving in this
vein however and be able to marry their excellent songwriting to truly interesting
arrangements and create an album to cherish.
Austin
Matthews
Tuesday, 29 May 2012
Record Review - Rock 'n' Roll Monkey & The Robots
Spooky Kooky Attic Static
Rock'n'Roll Monkey Records CD
The back-to-Detroit trio are now onto album number four, and thankfully being on this ride is still as joyful as ever. We still hear catchy, trashy rock'n'roll with varying shades of influence, the primary ones seemingly modern surf rock ('Static'), The Cramps ('Sadie Was A Bad Dog', 'Too Fast'), and the B-52s ('Oh Polka Dot').
Elsewhere I hear garage frat ('Thirsty Monkey'), 1950s guitars on the humorous 'I Should've Stayed In Detroit', and a touch of country pop ('Toxic House'). Despite the multiple sounds the album is still an extremely coherent listen - for example the vocals having a strong identity of their own. Big, dumb, fun - savour this outift! Take heart from their philosophy as outlined on the second track: "Love Someone/Put A Record On".
P.S. Help the band make album number five here!
Phil Istine
Event - Happening the clubnight, Sat June 2
HAPPENING
Saturday June 2nd
Note: new venue!
Live this time around:
DEAD COAST
Psych! Surf! Blues! 6-track mini album just released! 212
http://www.facebook.com/
Then resident DJ Phil Istine and guest DJ Lady Michelle (Lordy Lord) will spin your world via ’60s/’70s dancefloor psychedelia, garage, beat, and general vintage rock’n’roll wondermints!
‘Happening’ has now established itself in London as the grooviest place to sample the delights of the Shindig! universe. The leading magazine for ’60s and ’70s music, in conjunction with Sweet but Deadly Promotions, have made a corner of Stoke Newington their own little subcultural haven, inviting the best band’s and DJs to stoke the sonic fires. Come meet, greet and party with like-minded souls ’til your head explodes with delight!
@ La Sera
176 Stoke Newington High Street, London N16 7JL
8pm-2.30am. Free before 9pm, then £5 entry, cheaper after midnight
Buses: many. Train: Stoke Newington (from Liverpool St)
FACEBOOK EVENT
Monday, 28 May 2012
Record Review - The Creeping Ivies
Ghost Train EP
The Scottish garage rock duo are back with a follow
up to their debut EP ‘Rock N Roll Party’, which offers more gritty psychotic
stompers in the same vein between The White Stripes, The Cramps, and The Buff
Medways were they fronted by a banshee.
Said banshee, Becca Bomb, sounds like she grew up
loitering the streets of Detroit with Suzi Quatro circa The Pleasure Seekers
living on a diet of Fifties B-Movies and fuzzed-out eighties garage punk
nastiness; as she growls her way through opener ‘Ghost Train’, grinding her
guitar as Duncan Destruction, the sharp-suited Frankenstein bashes away
moronically on the skins.
Second track and highlight of the record is ‘Don’t
Cry’, a mean stomper of maniacal lust, which crosses between early Yeah Yeah
Yeah’s with more garage-blues muscle, with Miss Bomb screeching:“Don’t you die, die, die in my bed...!”
her voice drifting between an American punk drawl and broad Scottish lilt. Final track ‘Chicken Voodoo Blues’ loses all grip on
common sense and is a full on nonsensical assault on your ears with pounding
drums, scuzzy riffs, and bratty vocals. Raw, wild, so climb aboard, please.
Next stop voodoo-ville!
Yvonne McKeown
Record Review - The Moons
THE MOONS
Double Vision Love
The Northampton based five-piece return with a
release from their upcoming second studio LP ‘Fables of History’, produced by Edwyn Collins. 'Double Vision
Love' is a song of unrequited affection which borrows a driving garage-beat
sensibility combined with British dreamy popsike stylings. Resonating between
early Status Quo, Gary Walker & The Rain, whilst tipping its top hat to
Sean Bonniwell’s genius, with a fuzz ridden tribute to garage staple ‘Trouble’
midway through – it’s garage-beat, but with less bite.
To coincide with the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations
and the general air of “Rule, Britannia!”, The Moons b-side is a slice of quintessentially
British sunshine-pop which conjures up images of rolling English countryside,
street parties, and incidentally, twee model villages in Beckonscott. In traditional British fashion, 'English Summer' is a dreamy ode to the weather, or, as is often the
case, summertime showers. Here they raid the vaults of the lost art of British
songwriting, which is often idyllic and whimsical in style. Their seamless vocal
harmonies drift through the quaint orchestrations of The Zombies, as Andy
Crofts attempts to recreate the charm of ‘Village Green Preservation Society’
whilst avoiding the pitfalls of pastiche in the process.
Yvonne McKeown
Friday, 25 May 2012
Live Review - Austin Psych Fest 5
AUSTIN PSYCH FEST 5
Emo's East, Austin, Texas, USA
April 27-29
The above mentioned diversity was the center of this year’s Psych Fest, a three day festival starting in the afternoon and ending around two am or later with two different stages going simultaneously. Last year’s event venue was The Seaholm Power Plant, an abandoned Bauhaus style electrical plant in downtown Austin. The combination of the music and the architecture was something to behold, so the bar was set pretty high for this year. Seaholm is being converted to high end shops, so it wasn’t available, and Psych Fest has attendance in the thousands, so it’s not easy finding a venue with two large stages. As the trend is going in Austin, things are moving East, so Psych Fest was held this year at the newly opened Emo’s East, which was previously a legendary venue off of Austin’s Sixth Street District, with a second stage through an outdoor corridor in the same strip mall at the also newly opened Beauty Bar Ballroom.
With The Black Angels as hosts, they started the first day this year, leaving the festival open for other acts to take the spotlight and build to a climax. Among the highlights the first day were The Allah Las, a So-Cal retro psych band that sound entirely analog with touches of surf and LA folk rock. They were followed by Acid Baby Jesus, the swampy four piece from Athens, Greece that sound like The Stones meet King Khan on ouzo. They performed multiple times all over town that weekend in various states of inebriation and disorder, which only seem to add to their performances, but their Psych Fest appearance was a little bit reserved, although great nonetheless.
Also playing the first day were The Night Beats, a psychotic, acid tinged rock band from Seattle that conjure up Pebbles Volume III and more 13th Floor Elevators than one can imagine, but with a captivating, peyotic performance.
The Black Angels closed the first day with their always intense performance. They’ve always been something to behold and the performance always leaves one stunned for about a half hour later trying to take in what they just heard and saw, but the added treat this year was their new bass/alternating guitar player Rishi Dhir from Elephant Stone and previously from The High Dials. His sound a stronger sense of harmony that made The Black Angels fuller and more rounded, if that’s possible, not to mention his sitar playing on The Black Angels’ staple performance song “Manipulation”.
With so many acts playing non-stop, there will always be hit and misses. A side effect of the festival is that many different acts are indistinguishable from one another with drone and stoner rock jamming. An example of this drone out was Entrance Band, who did a horrendous Deep Purple drenched version of Love’s “A House Is Not a Motel”. Love and more importantly, Forever Changes is sacred, hallowed ground. The music is beautiful, soft, harsh, haunting, and filled with multiple subtleties. Their songs have been covered before with positive results from bands like The Marshmallow Overcoat and Love tribute band Forever Changes, but it succeeds in how it felt to the ears. It was rhythmic and possessed a similar atmosphere of those contradictions. That harmonic conflict is essential to Love, and was missing in Entrance Band’s performance to the effect of more than disappointment.
Among the fans’ pics of the day was The Jesus and Mary Chain style fuzz of Iceland’s Singapore Sling. The current lineup has some original members and a few from The Meek, another one of the weekend’s fuzz overdosed but always enjoyable performers. One should take note that just about anything from Scandinavia is far above average. Turbo Negro, The Sugarcubes, The Hives, The Hellacopters, Norwegian death metal, it’s all pretty memorable. Singapore Sling is no exception and ended their too brief 45 minute set with “Life is Killing My Rock ‘N’ Roll”, a great anthem, if there ever was one.
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If there’s a father of modern psych, it’s Anton Newcombe and his now stable lineup in The Brian Jonestown Massacre. His following is more than loyal, with many modern acts citing him as an influence, even at the point of overshadowing his own influences. Despite critical acclaim and being strongly prolific, Anton’s rants and reputation are often better known than his music. No matter how infamous his words and press, Anton is not only dedicated to his art, but genuinely approachable and dedicated to his fans, both old and new. BJM’s arrival to the stage at Psych Fest V as the closing act was therefore, only fitting in a Punk Meets The Godfather way. With no hurries, three Fender Twin Reverb amps, multiple eye-popping Vox and Hagstrom 12-strings, a mellotron, and the band’s proprietary drum kit was assembled, followed by multiple towels and beverages, for the late start of BJM. Anton, cigarette in mouth, took to his stool, picked up his Vox 12-string, gave Emo’s the historic nostalgic nod, and reached out to the crowd, letting them know this was a real event and a culture filled with substance outside of the mainstream. The rest of the evening drifted out in a muddy drone of reverb filled haze of light and sound.
Austin Psych Fest V and its organizers made a tremendous effort to outdo themselves this year by showing it as multi genre and encompassing. Nevertheless, modern psychedelic and unfortunately, many of the followers who say they’re into psychedelic rock have a narrow interpretation: Drone and reverb. For a festival to truly be a “psychfest”, acts such as The Cynics, Los Peyotes, Wyld Olde Souls, Magic Christian, The Higher State, The Urges, and countless others who play a more vintage psychedelic rock or who even were the forebearers such as ? and The Mysterians and The Left Banke should be included. Nevertheless, Psychfest V and its organizers were very, very ambitious this year in making it more diverse. It is more than likely that they’ll outdo themselves again next year and surprise both their greatest fans and harshest critics, me included.
Michael Passman
Thursday, 24 May 2012
Record Review – Apache Dropout
Apache Dropout
Family Vineyard Records
Now get this. MOJO magazine say: "[the best] re-scoring of the garage-rock aesthetic in the 21st century." Christ!
Shindig! says: Blimey! When people like The Higher State and Jacco Gardner are happily making music as amazing as the old stuff that inspires them with so much spark and brilliance that it sounds new, the sloppy Apache Dropout and their lo-fi monotonous racket are put to shame. Why re-score? The Dwarves' Horror Stories did that back in the ’80s and it worked, and if after snotty teen garage buy a few vols of the originators on BFTG. Apache Dropout want to be clever and cool, but aren't. They aren't the Elevators, the VU, The Fugs, Jonathan Richman or anyone else who toyed with conventions. They aren't garage!
Jon 'Mojo' Mills
Record Review - Nick Waterhouse
Time’s All Gone
Innovative Leisure CD/LP
25-years old, L.A. resident, present day is the reality. The dream of Nick Waterhouse, as far as his debut record suggests, is significantly older, in Nashville, circa 1962. A clear and concise R&B fanatic, Waterhouse has run with old-school ideals to create a humdinger of a rocking, authentic 32-minute performance. Yes yes, it does seem all the rage at the moment - Amy, Aloe Blacc, Sharon Jones, Mark Ronson etc. - but you cannot make this sort of record without having learnt your chops first and thrown your guts into it, so kudos to him for sticking to his sonic guns. The attention to detail - from the music, to the sharp modernist threads he sports, even the 50s jazz font colours of the artwork - borders on the best sort of OCD you could have. Hey, he even ensured it was mastered to mono on the same Gold Star Studios Lathe that Phil Spector & the Beach Boys once used!
The Slim Harpo/Excello sound is the strongest flavour running throughout the songs. Gorgeous honking sax is the centrepiece of opener ‘Say I Wanna Know’, with warm Hammond and a sweet female vocal...in fact Waterhouse is hardly there! Then it’s onto the dancefloor with the “midnight-hour R&B shake-fest” of ‘Some Place’, that’s fast becoming a mod club favourite (and will set you back about £100 on eBay!). You can understand why, it’s undeniably gritty and bursting with soul and 150 seconds of sheer brilliance. ‘Raina’ showcases his bruiser crooner side, with a lovely skirt-shaking flourish in the middle. All the songs are really well arranged, with plenty of heightened tension coming through on songs like ‘Indian Love Call’ and the popcorn swinger ‘Teardrop Will Follow You’.
His cover of Them’s ‘I Can Only Give You Everything’ left me cold - he’s thrown the baby out with the bathwater by discarding the gritty vocals and killer riff...and left a completely different song in it’s place. So he is human after after all. One other slight frustration I must mention is that there’s some fabulous singing here, but it’s partially obscured by the musicians and too much reverb. I’m sure it’s intentional, but as my mother said you should never hide your light under a bushel...especially one that burns this bright.
A star is born. PLAY LOUD, as a famous Liverpudlian once intoned.
Smart Phil
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