Review: Deadbear - Wabi Sabi (Art Is Hard Records)

A name like Deadbear would suggest we have ourselves a grubby garage band. This alongside the fact the EP is named Wabi Sabi, which means the acceptance of imperfection, and it’s all a little baffling. But take a listen and this is on the flip side. ‘All is Life’, featuring the corrupted vocals of Egyptian Hip Hop’s Alex Hewett, is four minutes of craftsmanship and unadulterated brilliance.

Tracks like ‘Uncanny Valley’, ‘JapanEatHotel’ and ‘Snow in Toyko’ all benefit from Deadbear’s ability to play around with hi-hats and structure samples so adequately. The results are fascinating. The title track is a clear winner, rough and irregular but with a subtle intimacy and euphoric charm. One man’s ingenuity and self expression could be another man’s mess, but music knows no boundaries and this EP is a perfect example of that.

Words: Emma Louise Milton.

Review: Mathew Gray – The Crocodile EP

I approached Mathew Gray and The Awful Truth's EP, The Crocodile, with a little caution; more than a little in fact. For some reason, I was fearful of sub-Syd Barrett whimsy. Maybe it was the title and the cover image and I am clearly as shallow as a puddle because, it turns out, I was miles and several genres wide of the mark.

The title tune is our entry into Mr Gray's world. It is dense with wordplay, poetry and imagery, deeply serious in subject, and light, skippy and joyous in performance. He wraps a deep sense of our place in the world as puny humans and our tiny part in the history of the earth, in something we would dearly wish very cool teachers to play to our children at school. The next song, ‘Took Away Tomorrow’ aches to its bones with emotion and is sung with a rare blend of sadness and detachment, with faint echoes of the criminally underrated Ed Harcourt. I especially love ‘Someone To Blame’, a cool dissection of the motivators of extremism with a percussion part so perfectly placed it made me grin like I was having my feet gently ticked.



In fact, all the playing here is from the very top drawer: all the musicians knowing when to hold back and when to politely run riot. The EP closes with ‘The Soldier’, its first person narrative occasionally dipping into the well worn war's a bad thing, who exactly are we fighting for? point, but driven forward by genuinely wonderful instrumental work pulled in from the worlds of classical and folk. The Crocodile by Mathew Gray and The Awful Truth is altogether rather ace.

Words: John Wigley.

Review: Stickman EP

Stickman’s three-track EP on 12” vinyl follows earlier Mindset Records output by the likes of xxxy, Synkro, Hatti Vatti and AnD, many of which were debut physical recordings by a Manchester record label willing to take chances with electronic music producers they believe in.

This latest record falls somewhere in the midst of techno, future garage and post-dubstep music makers from Scuba to Burial and is akin to both his label mates and some of the line-ups of the Sankeys’ monthly new music showcase Continue.

The music itself often seems manic, belying its subtle minimalism that remains darkly ambient despite the persistent pulses. It varies across each of its three parts though. ‘The Verge’ welcomes tinny shuffles before expanding into an uptempo march of squashed and fizzing synths.

‘If You Stay’ holds the urgency of deep house with its metronomic beats and edgy dystopian fills, while ‘Known’ relents into a less forceful atmospheric funkiness, which although lacking the earlier energy still drifts into a crowded musical space filled with echoing clacks and claps, stunted bassline thuds and wailing vocal clips.

Words: Ian Pennington
Images: Courtesy of Mindset Records