Sounds From The Other City 2014, Path One

There are various ways of approaching Sounds From The Other City. First and foremost, as an open-minded musical explorer keen to turn your ear towards the innovative sounds on offer; some with, others without an airtight route plan for the day. You can also join the team of volunteers who will have the benefit of seeing many of the positive responses while also glancing at a small section of the hard work that goes into staging the event. Or be more proactive as a hands-on reveller taking part in the Volkov Commanders’ fancy dress theme of giant, colourful helmets.

Then there’s the perspective of the many musicians themselves, who’re often living round the corner from you in this city or the other city and just as keen as the rest of us to see their fellow sound merchants in action. For me, wearing a reviewing hat, there are too many highlights to see through one pair of eyes, so we’ll feature more reviews of the festival over the coming days.

The event has gradually migrated from its original location, based around the crossroads where Chapel Street meets Bloom Street and New Bailey Street, to now centre on the organisers’ arts grotto Islington Mill. It stretches from Uni of Salford venues Maxwell Hall and Peel Hall at one extreme to the fledgling brewery First Chop and Bexley Square at the other.

Having narrowly missed the excitement emanating from Islington Mill’s Gallery space during the Blind Date game show revisit (more on that later), Bexley Square is where my journey through the day began. Seasoned pros in the audio visual matchmaking game, Video Jam had again amassed a healthy mix of musicians and filmmakers, including Mike Halpin’s live sampling of bicycle sounds to accompany Cote D’Azur and the FX pedalling, eyeball helmeted trio who tampered with their own voices in scoring The Summoning, a film depicting the aforementioned Volkov Commanders in action. Later on, O/L/A’s beautifully nuanced live soundtrack of a section of Baraka was a fitting curtain closer for this gazebo stage.

Deli Lama’s stall offered vegan nourishment outside another of the festival’s venues, The New Oxford pub, where Easter guitarist Thomas Long performed a few songs from his band’s forthcoming album, capturing the breadth of Idlewilderness and trad folk in his emotive delivery. Later the Carefully Planned Festival favourite Tekla found herself performing from the same seat in intimate surrounds.

In an instance of film translated to real life, The Summoning by Volkov Commanders manifested itself as a parade from the Old Pint Pot which I’m told later snaked past St Philip’s Church and the Angel Centre, where Deep Hedonia’s AV sermons and Tru Luv’s dream pop hopefuls were staged respectively.

Inside the Pint Pot was the other end of the noise spectrum as Mistoa Poltsa’s 12-stringed audio anarchy blitzed through the rafters. On this stage Kult Country also unleashed layered soundscapes in the name of psychedelia.

Back at Islington Mill were the Grumbling Furs, who were a departure from Mind On Fire’s usual bookings, sounding as they did like 80s pop fed through stabbier soundscapes. Only their prolonged ambient waltzes diverted from visions of the last dance at a high school prom movie – perhaps following ‘Forever Young’ in Napoleon Dynamite.

In the gallery, the Blind Date matchmaking from earlier in the day heralded some indifferent results as two pairs recounted their days together. Then, on The Word variety show, the John Cooper Clarke influenced Thick Richard spat his venomous tales about bus seat MCs and hypothetical obituaries for Bez, before sack-wearing band Horrid answered questions. Other 90s TV shows rebooted for the occasion include Stars In Their Eyes and Family Fortunes, pitting contestants inside a giant TV box by virtue of some thinking that was decidedly outside the box and very at home in the world of SFTOC.

The First Chop Brewery made its SFTOC debut with aplomb. Many of its patrons went away more smiley than one of the venue’s featured acts, Happyness, whose conversely moody outlook was potentially prompted by their US college indie rock tinted specs. By the time its in-house band Karate 5 took to the stage, the brewery was left with only two ales on tap – down from nearly ten at the start of the day. Exclusive event ale TOC was one of those devoured.

Back with Karate 5, they were one of the highlights. In Denis Jones’s ‘Beginning’, perhaps his most widely known song and formerly a regular set-closer, he sings of a “super band where they all lend a hand”. In a sense Karate 5 is the realisation of this vision as he lines up alongside members of Honeyfeet, Walk and Cat In Paris to form a boogie jam band capable of instilling rhythm into even the weariest of jivers. Led by Rik Warren’s husky tones, their rendition of Ann Cole’s ‘Got My Mojo Working’ saw no foot remaining unmoved under the arches.

Back at Islington Mill, Pete Herbert and later the El Diablo DJs were stepping up the groove that Werkha and 2 Billion Beats had earlier set in motion. The rest is a joyous daze.

Words: Ian Pennington
Photos: Ged Camera

Early bird tickets are now available for next year’s event here.

Sessions Part Two: Denis Jones

Manchester MIDI School’s Sessions series is to stage its second ever workshop and has invited Manchester folkie-turned-electronic music experimenter Denis Jones to share his experiences and skills as an independent musician specialising in modern production and electronic music.

Denis Jones has released two critically acclaimed albums via the formerly Manchester-based independent label Humble Soul. Over the past couple of years, he has been collaborating with various musicians across Europe and has most recently recorded with Stockport DJ, artist and tea connoisseur Mr Scruff ahead of Scruff’s new album, Friendly Bacteria, due out via Ninja Tune on 18 May.



Central to Denis’s equipment throughout his development as a musician is the Boss RC-50 looping pedal, but since embracing electronic music, his gigging luggage has expanded to include enough blinking LEDs to resemble a miniature scale city. All this hardware is the antithesis of many modern electronic music producers, who are left scratching their heads and asking the question central to Sessions #2: ‘How can you perform electronic music without a laptop?’

The chance the learn about the performing and recording practices of someone so tuned into new and abstract production methods without the help of laptop software doesn’t arrive too often, but the MIDI School on Bexley Square is offering the opportunity for free.

Sessions returns after a successful debut last November, when the deep house producer and DJ Ben Pearce fronted a class and Q&A on his production techniques and life as an independent musician. The Sessions series at Manchester MIDI School aims to inspire, educate and encourage participants to pursue a career in the music industry, proving the relevant skills to follow this path.

As with the Ben Pearce Sessions workshop, places will be free. But they are also limited, so will be allocated via a competition. To join the Denis Jones Sessions event on Friday 18 April, just follow this link. The closing date for entry is 10 April.

Interview: The Imploding Inevitable Festival

Even some of the largest of the UK’s annual music festivals have decided to sidestep this year’s sporting attractions by taking a year off, but The Imploding Inevitable Festival will embark on its third year this weekend, bringing together some of the North West’s finest musicians and poets.

Of the larger festivals, Glastonbury has taken the opportunity for a fallow year while Sonisphere announced its cancellation in March. More locally, organisers of LadyRock had to pull the plug on their south Manchester based event, in an interview blaming the decision on a mixture of factors from poor Springtime weather to the Olypmics, whilst also pointing out the surfeit of nationally marketed, large weekend events, such as the Jubilee.

But The II Festival, as it is often shortened to, has persisted through the range of issues and will tomorrow (Friday 29th June) welcome fans of a variety of folk, blues and psychedelic music to its setting near Lake Windermere at Fell Foot Wood.

Director and curator Baz Wilkinson describes previous years and what to expect this year.

Now Then: Why did you begin the festival originally?

Baz Wilkinson: It seemed the next step up to celebrate a year of promoting the bands that we love. Not only that but it brings everyone together who love the bands, spoken word-ers and, well, we like to drag people from the mundane of everyday life and provide them with something that they can really enjoy and relax with.

NT: Do you have a festival philosophy?

BW: I suppose our festival philosophy follows on from the philosophy that we have created for our regular events. It basically revolves around putting the artist first, keeping things as cheap as possible, which means being non-profit, and ensuring diversity across the weekend and nurturing creativity. For example, in the first year we had the audience contribute a line of poetry to a mass ‘Exquisite Corpse’ surreal poem and last year we had a very good open mic section. This year we are doing the open mic again but also offering woodworking classes and even a crocheting group haha! It’s all good fun…!

NT: There seem to be ten festivals every weekend across the UK during the summer months these days; has it proved difficult with the competition? Why (not)?

BW: I think that’s always going to be a factor with these things. The only thing I can say from experience is that many of our ticket holders have been three years on the trot so we must be doing something right! Not only that, but the feedback we get each year has been superb and is great to read through after the event. I guess the most difficult thing is the weather; we’ve generally been lucky and had great weather but that’s always a wee bit of a worry. I’ve yet to try out my naked sun dance that I learnt when I was trekking in the hills of Wigan – maybe this year, it may catch on, who knows?! We could call it The II Festival With A Wink then ha!

NT: What made you choose the setting of Fell Foot Wood?

BW: Five words: Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty. That is all.

NT: The festival remains very low key and independent; is that likely to change as the years go by? How big is it likely to grow?

BW: I’ve been asked this quite a bit which I like to think is because people can envisage it getting bigger, but for now we are quite happy with how it is. The atmosphere and vibes of the place has a really calming effect on the audience; it seems to put them at ease, forget their worries and have a great time! And, rest assured, if it did become bigger it would still remain true to its ethos in supporting locally sourced materials and food, being totally independent and supporting truly independent artists.

NT: Has there been an Imploding Inevitable Festival performance or moment that is particularly memorable for you?

BW: There’s been quite a few actually! Paddy Steer being unleashed on a totally unsuspecting audience in 2010 was absolutely fantastic. He had a dancing robot (which was actually Men Diamler), lazers and loads of flashing lights – it looked like a UFO had landed. Earlier that day Men Diamler performed waltzing through the audience on the most beautiful of days I’ve seen at Fell Foot – again, that took the audience by surprise and they loved it!

Last year, Magic Arm was the epitome of ‘aceness’, as were Driver Drive Faster. Regarding the poetry/spoken word, Mark Mace Smith put an incredibly gripping performance in showing his class yet again and I particularly love the diversity of that aspect of the festival each year. A truly memorable… memory was last year’s get-together after the bands had finished when we stayed up quite late laughing and drinking through the night with PICO (the comedy puppet act who will be at the festival again this year!) and some of the bands; I’ve never laughed so much I don’t think and those memories will stay a long time with me!

NT: How do you select the line-ups?

BW: It’s a tricky affair as we’d love to book everyone but obviously we have to say sorry to quite a few. But let’s start at the beginning – we’ve always booked based on three main underpinning aims: integrity, creativity and originality. All the artists we promote have these by the bucket-load, so then it’s a case of seeing who’s free, looking at the logistics and seeing what will work, etc. And if we still can’t decide we put all the names of the bands we love down on the floor and our mascot, the nocturnal aye-aye (as in The II Festival), points to the ones he’d prefer.

NT: What do you have lined up for 2012?

BW: We have another cracking line-up with Laura J Martin, Jonnie Common, Jess Bryant, Colorama, Denis Jones, Dave Rybka (Victorian Dad), Meursault (solo and a late addition), the eccentric and lovable Oddfellow & I, Harvey Lord, The Woven Project, David A Jaycock, Rob St John, two artists from Brooklyn, New York, in Jo Schornikow and Scott Rudd, Jo Gillot and not forgetting that Saturday morning we have a harp recital by Rachael Gladwin to wake people from their slumber. Alongside the music we have a superb selection of spoken word performers from comedy to story-telling to straight up poetry readings and then there’s the aforementioned Wood Craft and Crocheting circle to take part in. It’s going to be a cracker!

Words: Ian Pennington
Images: Courtesy of The Imploding Inevitable Festival

Tickets, including student discounts, are available from the site owner at Fell Foot Woods and you can avoid a booking fee by calling 01539 531014. There will also be an option to turn up on the day. For more info see the website and for ticket info follow this link.

An edited version of this interview previously appeared on Manchestermule.com

Humble Soul: 5th Birthday @ Band On The Wall, Saturday 21st January 2012

Birthdays; opportunities to meet with old friends and fondly reminisce in memories.

For Manchester independent record label Humble Soul it was no different, except that their accumulated friends happen to be some of the finest musicians that the city has offered this millennium.

You could call it eclectic, but this particular bill is more a case of folk and easy listening sandwiched between two examples of aptitude in innovation, Paddy Steer and Denis Jones. The former, a polyrhythmic percussionist who is one half of Humble Soul signee Homelife, opens, but the emphasis is with the latter – the headliner – who is joined by his now regular collaborator David Schlechtriemen (aka The Pickpocket Network).

In between is a midsection comprising the calming Cortina Deluxx and Table, who make use of the grand piano for a selection of compositions designed for the Band On The Wall jazz club in its smokier days; the lack of which may alter the modern day atmosphere but now means you can see as clearly as hear the sobriety and stillness of melody.

They’re bookended by the bands of GladEyes and Aidan Smith, with Smith leading the party game fun; his wonky pop a wealth of between-song banter (calling his brother, the lead guitarist, “Carlos Santander” after a short burst of screaming notes) and light-hearted lyrics (“I took my girl to the cinema complex”).

Smith is constantly wary of the time, indeed most are ushered through at a canter, making the pause for breath ahead of label centrepiece Denis Jones & The Pickpocket Network seem prolonged. It’s soon forgiven throughout a set illustrating the benefits of being allowed freedom of expression without limits to time or creativity, typified by the pounding sculpting of ‘Rage’ grinding the show to a halt over an hour later. With an overall mellower feel than recent displays, the pair emit a variety of progressions from scattered digital darts like a less wacky Dan Deacon to looped samples of a Moondog epigram (“machines were mice and men were lions once upon a time, but now that it’s the opposite it’s twice upon a time”), via a couple of old favourites in ‘Beginning’ and ‘Sometimes’.

A fitting end, temporarily at least, to the Humble Soul output from Manchester. I’ve been assured that the journey will continue from further afield, so hopefully there’ll be many more birthdays to follow.

Words: Ian Pennington
Photography: Declan Cahill

Denis Jones: Then & Now

Years ago, neatly tucked in alongside Humble Soul’s other local traditional folkies including Liz Green and John Fairhurst, Denis Jones was merely one part ‘electronic’ dabbler, while remaining for the most part safely concurrent with 21st Century folk & blues.

Ever since then, he has slowly but surely drifted out into a sea of spliced soundwaves and, in pairing with multi-instrumental beats merchant David Schlechtriemen (also of The Pickpocket Network, HoneyFeet and Driver Drive Faster), his soulful side is being rejected for something altogether more immediate. The quaint (if wrongly attributed) folk-tronica tag has long since been shed. Tracking his progress as a musician very much open to experimenting with his art, you can still sense the early learning in folk and blues, notably in tonight’s recognisable tracks ‘Beginning’ and ‘Clap Hands’, but Denis has used his accumulated coats of technological paint to embrace something far more hard-hitting, raw, visceral and primordial: dance music.

If you were to see him tonight for the first time, his abundance of facial follicles would seem more sonically apt alongside pre-shave Beardyman or moustachioed Andrew Weatherall than folk’s William Fitzsimmons or Iron & Wine. The audience are still heckling for the standouts of his first two LPs: “‘Elvis’! ‘Sometimes’!” they plead; “Judas!” you can almost hear them thinking. From David’s arrival partway through opener ‘Clap Hands’ until he departs again for ever-beguiling curtain closer ‘Beginning’, it is a deluge of electronic indulgence. During that time, some shuffle uncomfortably and reminisce about more intimate climes of days gone by, sat cross-legged in crammed south Manchester bars, but in realising his own musical present and future, he is steadily leaving that audience in the past.

Or is he?

Denis’ ever-developing brand of dance noise would most cohesively fall into the IDM category alongside the likes of Walls, Fuck Buttons and Ghosting Season. But Denis and David (or Tatetitotu, as they're tentatively calling the project) are unchained by genre and also retain a certain organic feel that some peers cannot boast. Their compositions are untethered to the workings of a macbook, generating a production less disguised than the others. Looped sample pads and a mesmerising array of gadgets seem over-complicated, but groundings are often laid by the more human elements. Denis’s acoustic guitar plucked with intricate precision; his vocal howls and hollers adding an entombing atmospheric intensity. In this sense it could be interpreted as in keeping with the bluesy roots.

And does a dance music orientation necessarily leave folk and blues behind? If the folk and blues leviathans of days gone by had access to the sound warping equipment that today’s sonic sculptors readily employ, would they too reshape and adapt? Indeed, they did adapt. John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters trailblazed with electric blues; John Martyn championed alternate guitar tunings; Don Van Vliet rewrote the recording rulebook in his secluded forest cabin (albeit a rulebook that few would willingly follow).

That progressive dynamism is as fundamental to the synthetic as it is to the natural. Indeed, the open-minded are shifting their feet to the Denis/David duo’s block rockin’ beats. The only sticking point would be that it’s not Denis Jones as advertised; it’s a wholly different racket. Tuneglue.com nods to John Fairhurst, Adrian Crowley and Alin Coen Band as reference points, but those are inaccurate and inadequate to his direction; every step he’s taken has been away from those peers. Which means that local promoters Mind On Fire are way ahead of Tuneglue. They saw the sonic signs more than 18 months ago by pitting him alongside the likes of From the Kites of San Quentin and xxxy on a bill topped by Mount Kimbie; next week (Thursday 17th November) they’re taking that a stage further by seamlessly coalescing him (plus David) with the supports for IDM electronic glitch tweaker Shigeto at Islington Mill.

And so to the future, which for Denis should include many more of the kaleidoscopic frames distributed on entry to this gig – albeit with more of a light show to hammer home his realignment in techno-musical technicolour. The specs, incidentally, are an apt side-story and one that lends credence to Denis’s strides into dancefloor-filling territory. Distributed on entry to the Deaf Institute, they build a hallucinatory experience with minimal effort, cost and after-effects; the silver screen is dabbling with 1980s 3D comebacks, so why not independent music? Many seem sceptical, but taking on the paraphernalia of Biff’s infamous Back to the Future crony means you’re only a short leap into the surreal away from a psychedelic Chemical Brothers or Orbital spectacle. Not often will this be used as a simile, but then it hasn’t been often that Denis has provided an encore with the ballistics of a D’n’B beats bombardment.

Words: Ian Pennington
Photography: Stephen Hicks
Poster: Mind On Fire

Arts, Music & Events Preview June 2011 (Part Two)

My assertion earlier this month that Parklife always attracts the best weather proved to be only half true on this occasion, leaving in its wake a sludgy trail of well-trodden mush. Fortunately for today’s (Saturday 18th) Envirolution, they’ll be drawing punters to a different part of Platt Fields park.

The event ties in with both Team Green Britain’s Bike Week and International Day of Action to Stop Tar Sands; the former offers incentives for cycling and the opportunity to ‘pimp your bike’; the latter will be instigated by Manchester Friends of the Earth as a gesture against the Canadian oil depository labelled by Greenpeace as “a literal hell on earth”.

Elsewhere today there’s a worthy line-up at Islington Mill for Portals. Comic book DJ Fingathing and Denis Jones’ project with The Pickpocket Network are musical picks; all the while supported by a multitude of artists’ interpretations of ‘portals’, including Elle Brotherhood, Used Pencil and plenty more.

Onwards to Tuesday 21st when a couple of politically edged bookings vie for attention. Firstly, at the Shakespeare pub, Manchester Salon’s Valuing the Arts in an Age of Austerity is one to whet the appetite of debate, given this government’s disdain towards artistic institutions often proven to not only culturally satiate, but also economically recoup. One such example is the UK Film Council, abolished last year in an early sign of Tory intent. And on the topic of film, Manchester Film Co-operative’s latest selection also screens on that Tuesday, The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum. It fits with their current ‘surveillance’ theme and takes place upstairs at The Kings Arms in Salford.

The following weekend is a busy one, ushered in by Content on Friday 24th. The tech house promoter have Octave One secured for a Joshua Brooks show. Apparently there’s another festival happening this weekend on the telly; not as far as Islington Mill are concerned. Their Alternative Glastonbury weekend may not have quite the same available acres, but it does flex its variety muscles with one69A’s t-shirt prints, Salford Zine Library, arts & crafts stalls and Shangaan Electro on Sunday 26th. Preceded by an Eastern Bloc vinyl DJing takeover on Saturday 25th, which clashes with more within the twisted electronic brains of Hoya:Hoya; Machine Drum's funky sampledelica at Roadhouse.

Woodpigeon top a Tuesday 28th bill at the Dulcimer that includes Eagleowl and Rob St John (both of Song, By Toad Records).

You want more? Well there is the small matter of the rearranged Now Then Doodlebug Nuggets event, also at Dulcimer bar in Chorlton. Mark down Wednesday 29th for that one. Plenty more to say on that one very soon, but here’s a little taster:

Expect dabblings with the esoteric: leftfield music, live conversations with local arts personalities, spoken word, audience participation; a multi-arts mélange under the curative eyes of host M A Barnes-Wynters.

It’s free entry as well. And if you like what you see in the various midweek entertainment showcase then dipping into your pockets to the tune of £3 would be much appreciated to support performers and ensure the future unearthing of similar gems.

Before the month ends, on Thursday 30th there's also the launch of half-month long performance palette Not Part Of Festival, which originally began as a more inclusive balance to the heavily funded and commissioned Manchester International Festival. Interwoven betwixt and between will be Lassfest at the Lass O'Gowrie, but more on both next month...

Words: Ian Pennington

Arts, Music & Events Preview, April 2011 (Part Two)

Earlier this month I wrote a few words to report on the aftermath of the Arts Council England funding allocation; specifically its effect on Manchester arts groups. A major casualty, the article stated, was greenroom, which has since announced its closure to the public from the end of May. So a fitting way to start off this second instalment of April’s should-attend events waffle is with a greenroom event. Wednesday 20th is the launch of Blank Media Collective’s final exhibition at the Whitworth Street producing house, Who’s Laughing Now?, which takes on ideas within taxidermy such as personification, lasting images, death and guilt; relevant topics given greenroom’s situation.

On a lighter note, Islington Mill hosts the debut screening of Manchester based Fritz von Runte’s project merging Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey with David Bowie’s career output as a recording artist on the same night. That one will include a discussion about the film, Bowie2001: A Space Oddity, and the finer points of intergalactic references in Bowie’s music, while Thursday 21st welcomes another screening before a fancy dress disco.

Thursday 21st also beckons through another short stint for the Warehouse Project. The opening night is the pick of them with 2manydjs and Aeroplane topping the bill. More follows nightly until Sunday 24th.

Friday 22nd is another one at Islington Mill – a line-up composed of Scotland’s finest folkies. Fence Collective bring along Lone Pigeon and The Pictish Trail, while Song, By Toad Records cohort Jonnie Common offers a tune or a few in support. Red Deer Club Recordings, who’re co-promoting it, have some other worthwhile news: another Awesome Wells record (Carry On Awesome Wells), released on Monday 25th and containing wilfully askew bandstand park-fillers, whimsically oblique in its varied instrumentation and modern Animal Collective harmonies.

Back on track, there’s more to mention for the 22nd courtesy of Naive Melody residents at Charlie’s. Here’s a taster of their cosmic grooves.

Fast forward a little to Wednesday 27th and you’re met by a Bonobo show at Band on the Wall. See this if you can. Another gig the following night, Thursday 28th, is a Little Red Rabbit promotion in the form of Nick Cave sound-alikes Last Harbour at Sacred Trinity Church.

And so to the much-discussed Bank Holiday on Friday 29th. Without going too far into the anachronistically outdated reason behind the holiday, it has served up an enticing array of artistic options. Rotters Golf Club label ringleader Andrew Weatherall will take on the role of chief tune-selecter, mixing funky tech for Content at Joshua Brooks. Or there’s Mount Kimbie, who need no introduction to anyone familiar with this blog. Now Wave have booked them the Deaf Institute stage for the night.

More conjugally conscious are Islington Mill’s Off With Their Heads assorted festivities (including a tug of war between royalists and republicans) and an early afternoon Funeral Procession, a satirical stab at mourning the public services that have passed on in favour of archaic feudalism. Vive la République.

Moving onto Saturday 30th, Denis Jones headlines a show at Fuel Café, presumably partly as a warm-up for his Sounds From The Other City appearance, where he’ll be soundtracking a film on the Bad Uncle / HearHere stage. There’s plenty more besides; the festival has grown again, flexing more musical muscle down Salford’s Chapel Street.

Words: Ian Pennington

Manchester Records of 2010 (Part Two)

Acrifolia - Lament
[Self-Released]
Nov 2010
This aptly-titled debut offers contemplative combinations of lonely piano and guitar over echoing, swirling backing drones. Lament as a theme is obvious throughout, but, like the introspective emotion to which the word refers, there is little joy in some areas of the record.

The sense of loss is tangible, and that loss is a bassline or percussive element that would help the musical scenes progress. But in a sense it is within these desolate soundscapes that a reflection of lamentation’s stagnant depth as an emotion is strongest. Nuance of volume change is the Manchester duo’s answer to a lack of beats, illustrated on opener ‘Peace Within’, which welds Walls-esque electronic crackling to aching acoustic ivories. The mood largely continues through ‘Inscape’ and ‘Caldera’, as piano mixes between anxious and subdued, while the latter switches to a smattering of restrained optimism akin to Moby’s more cerebral tracks.

Long-held notes lend a sort of half-speed Boards of Canadian interlude feel; perhaps into a beat-less Move D & Pete Namlock or Eno/Moebius/Roedelius should they have favoured sparse monotony over intricacy on more of After The Heat.

While Lament predominantly shuns too much build or development, the final two, lengthiest, tracks have more time to fluctuate under Acrifolia’s downtempo template; succeeding better in holding attention through ringing guitar effects and simple, shimmering beauty manifested through waves of foamy, fuzzy undercurrents. An intriguing debut.



Dan Haywood's New Hawks
Timbreland Recordings
Dec 2010
Manchester’s Timbreland Recordings’ double-disc release of chief raconteur Dan Haywood’s folky stories includes work recorded over more than four years. Fans of The Decemberists should lean in closer at this point; Haywood doesn’t necessarily share the Canadian quintet’s passion for the concept album, but does deliver a similarly engaging collection of tales, hinged together by his lone explorations of remote, rural Scottish coastlines.

The double disc format would test any listener’s attention span, never mind that of the mp3 shuffle generation, but perseverance is rewarded; the songs grow in stature, while Haywood’s distinctive vocals – think Gideon Conn merged with The Decemberists’ Colin Meloy – are cushioned by some dextrous musicianship. Amongst his assembled New Hawks are former 808 State, and current Homelife and solo, multi-percussive talent Paddy Steer, whose shuddering timpani rolls are noticeable in the more free form tangents of ‘Middle Nowhere’.

Elsewhere, the mellow sways and slide guitar of ‘Drinking In The Big Towns’ are welcome comfort against bittersweet vocal tones and the subsequent ‘Spate River’ is a standout; darkly creeping up in its dramatic and scathing narrative; lyrically crisp and eloquently articulated. Settings are generally sparser through the flip CD side, briefly losing musical accompaniment altogether for the a cappella ‘Ghost Post’.



Denis Jones – Red + Yellow =
Humble Soul
Oct 2010
Around the turn of the last century, The Hives proclaimed themselves to be Your New Favourite Band. Whether you agreed with them or not depends on your expectation of what a band should be. With the same degree of certainty, Denis Jones could take that attitude and profess to be your new favourite: 'solo electro-acoustic loop pedal connoisseur'; 'avant garde glitchcore bluesman'; 'folky beatbox live producer’, depending on when and where you may've seen him. It may seem like a wide variety, but it’s a fair response when you’re faced with a veritable deluge of cacophonic sounds, bombarding your eardrums with similar multi-modulation and apparent imprecision.

While his debut humdrum virtue showed potential, its mixed reception was in part indicative of the room for improvement. But there is also a certain glass ceiling for Denis Jones, in that the concept of a song with defined boundaries suffocates his aptitude for irrepressible freeform tangents; the experimentation in soulful electronica is what earned him the accolade of the inaugural beneficiary of Futuresonic's (now FutureEverything) artist development program. Last year’s sophomore Red + Yellow = has taken that on board and aimed to channel the aforementioned live show gusto through its eight tracks.

Many compositions, such as a modification of Tom Waits’ ‘Clap Hands’, the fidgety ‘Sometimes’ and a beautifully crafted homage to the impersonator ‘Elvis’, are familiar to anyone who’s seen his sterling live set; these versions do go some way further to capturing and retaining that raw feel of layered reverberation. ‘Rage’ in particular manages to box in the sheer pounding intensity and intimidating vocal rhythms synonymous with its live production. However, you still feel that boxing this music into recorded format is to its detriment.

A rare collaborative performance at Band on the Wall last January displayed how the latter, more widely instrumental, recordings fit alongside a recognisable acoustic accumulation. The shift into the realms of full-band glitch jazz through ‘New Note’, ‘Conception, Consumption and Radiation’ and ‘Bastion of Blood’ offer a conversely minimalistic approach to the thicker, industrially delivered early-album solo looping.

Ultimately Red + Yellow = follows the same mantra as humdrum virtue in that the most uplifting is saved until last. ‘Blengin’ is very much this album’s ‘Beginning’; indication that better still is to follow. The future’s bright; the future’s Red + Yellow =.


Words: Ian Pennington

Silver Apples @ Deaf Institute, Wednesday 28th July

It’s a shame that this Now Wave / WOTGODFORGOT show falls during the sleepy summer gig months. The crowd is healthy enough and Silver Apples co-founder Simeon Coxe (often known simply as Simeon) is clearly appreciative of all the plaudits he receives, but, as innovators so ahead of their time in the late '60s, Silver Apples perhaps deserve greater recognition than from the fanatical few.

The journey begins, though, with a musician more than capable of filling Simeon’s sonic shoes, Denis Jones. Although the gathered few are sparse for his set, Denis enraptures attentions towards a blend of cacophonous crescendos through forthcoming album Red+Yellow=’s ‘Rage’, ‘Clap Hands’ and ‘Sometimes’, while the old favourite, debut album closer ‘Beginning’ is greeted by a knowing hush of anticipation; immaculately uplifting.


The short film, Play Twice Before Listening, sets the scene. Silver Apples originally recorded music in the late 1960s and disappeared for years due to the demise of the record label, KAPP, that had released their first two records. KAPP's sale and eventual absorption into MCA Records was shepherded along following an attempt to defend itself in a legal wrangling against major airline Pan Am, who took offence to the Apples’ second album cover and its depiction of a flight crash scene.

If that image was to prove prescient, it also symbolised the relevance of Silver Apples in an era defined by social change, political protest, technological advancement and, most importantly, the purported moon landing. Looking back, Simeon’s adaptation of vintage 1940s oscillating electricity machines into a primitive dance music arsenal renders a fitting soundtrack to such a phenomenon.

This is not a pension tour, though. The rekindling of the flame in the mid-1990s must have felt more like unfinished business. Although short-lived in one respect, with original drummer Danny Taylor passing away soon after in 1998, his death also led to the rediscovery of undamaged recordings for the third album, entitled The Garden, which was proposed for 1970 but waited nearly 30 years for release.

So, when Simeon, alone, takes the stage at Deaf Institute it feels like the continuation of something that has not yet reached completion. Kicking into a canned boom-chk undercurrent to cosmic wobbles, the fedora-clad innovator is noticeably grateful for his second chance.

Not bogged down by reliance upon too many hits in the back catalogue, Simeon is free to experiment; swooshing, floating, warping through many a musical galaxy; orbiting the SONAR-esque ‘I Don’t Know’ and the almost poppy ‘I Don’t Care What The People Say’.

Following the spiralling sonic lure of ‘Oscillations’, Simeon doffs his hat to salute raucous applause; ahead of its time in the '60s and still unique enough to merit recognition.

Words & Pictures: Ian Pennington

This City is Ours & Mind on Fire present: This City is on Fire @ Islington Mill, Friday 20th March

Scheduling is crucial to the success of a gig. You can define the mood by arranging distinct styles to great effect. It doesn’t sound too difficult but it can elude promoters. This City is Ours and Mind on Fire hit the nail on the head with this one, though.

There are a few reasons for this: one being that I’ve never before seen Denis Jones fit so perfectly low down on the bill. This isn’t a point necessarily concerning ability – that’s on show everywhere in the Islington Mill. Instead, the flow from one act to the next is an incisive and steady progression towards higher tempo. Drawing between those lines are Cycloptic’s projected visuals and OneFiveEight’s live art doodling.

From The Kites of San Quentin are up before the top-billed trio; notable for interchanging echoing and a gargling, drowning feel to vocoded lyrics, sitting atop mountainous strata of bass-flecked, groaning FX plateaus. Technical issues aside, they bring a very listenable air of 1990s Bristolian trip-hop to the table.


Those technical issues have the opposite effect on Denis Jones’s set. ‘Clap Hands’ particularly is performed with added thickness in bass and the version of ‘Beginning’ is one of the clearer he’s produced live. It is also interesting to see this in the context of Denis’s transition from folk to electronic crowd – following the expected ‘Beginning’ ending he receives as appreciative a reception as ever.


Mount Kimbie, recognised as headliners but not last onto the stage, begin slowly. Visuals of a pebble dropped in the pool with ripples of sound gradually expanding are accurate, bringing in elements of their electronic gadgetry pick’n’mix all the while. The eclectic range of music in their 50 minutes is entrancing; mellow minimal to bass’n’beats, bleepy Nintendo pop to The xx lonesome guitar, Burial ambient dubstep to Roots Manuva deep bass. Although the venue is sold out, there’s still space to move and really feel the music pulsing; a contrast to many where the policy seems to be to cram people in beyond the capacity threshold.


XXXY steps it up a notch, tempo-wise, by laptop DJing with fast-paced foot-tappers incorporating what sounds like the dubsteppy Deadboy remix of Delphic’s ‘Halcyon’ and an echoey mix of MSTRKRFT’s ‘Heartbreaker’.

Words & Pictures: Ian Pennington