BR Content Archives - Page 155 of 191 -

October 15, 2014October 16, 2014

PREVIEW: Fiction @ mac Theatre, Thurs 16th & Fri 17th Oct

Fiction comes to mac Theatre for two nights on Thurs 16^th & Fri 17^th October. Doors open at 8pm, with tickets priced at £14 (£12).

Created by Glen Neath (writer) and David Rosenberg (director), produced by Fuel Theatre, the 60minute show uses a combination of absolute darkness and binaural sound (sound recorded to trick the brain into thinking it is physically immersed elsewhere) to create ‘an anxious journey through the sprawling architecture of our dreams’. Or, as Fuel Theatre playfully offers, ‘it is an opportunity to get a 60 minute nap.’

Fiction invites the audience to don headphones, close their eyes and shut down their senses until they to ‘fall asleep… and dream’, whilst a ‘chaperone who knows the landscape’ leads the production’s narrative. Spooky stuff, but we are assured ‘nothing can go wrong… unless… no… just close your eyes.’ I’d love to see the risk assessment.

Following on from their previous production using sensory deprivation, the (generally) critically revered Ring, Fiction is the second collaboration from Neath and Rosenberg to be produced by Fuel Theatre.

Whilst receiving much acclaim from the arts press, with Andrzej Lukowski for Time Out stating ‘Rosenberg’s binaural sound design is immensely sophisticated’, Matt Wolf for The New York Times left a production of Ring ‘pretty much as you entered it, sight restored but awaiting illumination.’

But the power of the production approach (i.e. a narrative delivered in pitch black to an isolated audience) seems palpable across most experiences, with Deputy Editor for Wired.co.uk, Olivia Solon, even admitting ‘when one moderately gruesome scene was described, I found myself actively trying to have less sinister thoughts.’ And that was the Neath/Rosenberg partnership’s first crack of the whip.

Fuel Theatre, whose productions often challenge theatre’s more traditional approaches, has been celebrating their 10th anniversary throughout 2014; other Fuel Theatre productions currently running are This Last Tempest – a musical squeal to Shakespeare’s magical play, and Dusk – a child focused production where the young audience become part of the show.

Touring across the UK until November 8^th, Fiction comes to mac Theatre before moving on to one date in Crewe and two dates in Cambridge.

Further performances of Fiction can be seen in Colchester, Folkstone and Margate – until the run comes to a close with two dates in Preston. Ed King will be at watching… well, hearing Fiction’s opening night at mac Theatre (Thurs 15^th Oct) for a Birmingham Review.

Watch the official trailer for Fiction; click here or on the image below:

Fiction comes to mac Theatre for two nights on Thurs 16^th & Fri 17^th October. For further information & tickets, visit http://macbirmingham.co.uk/event/fuel-fiction/

For more on Fiction, visit http://www.fueltheatre.com/projects/fiction

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For more on David Rosenberg, visit http://www.requardt-rosenberg.com/

For more on Glen Neath, visit http://www.glenneath.co.uk/

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For more on Fuel Theatre, visit http://www.fueltheatre.com/

For more on mac Birmingham, including full event & exhibition listings, visit http://macbirmingham.co.uk/

October 13, 2014

ALBUM: Allergic to Water – Ani DiFranco

Words by Ed King- follow him @EdKing2210 / Pic by Charles Waldorf, images courtesy of Righteous Babe Records

Ani DiFranco’s portfolio is a little like Glastonbury or Burning Man, depending on which side of the pond you want your metaphor. There’s that seminal year you first discovered it, the subsequent comparisons, and a hidden army who know it better than you or came too late to be credible. Bullshit, obviously, but since when was human nature a bastion of balance.

So with Allergic to Water being DiFranco’s eighteenth studio album, yes – eighteenth, there’s no doubt a myriad of fence hopping stories to contend with (I don’t know what the Burning Man equivalent would be) and I apologies in advance if I fall into this trap.

Allergic to Water is out on global release today (13th Oct); 12 slickly produced tracks with Ani DiFranco at the helm, recorded and mixed between her own New Orleans home and a nearby church/studio (think acoustics not religion). It opens softly, with almost distant vocals and a steel string drawl; vocals strut over a slow beat, with lyrics to “remind me to quit my job, say farewell to it all’. Allergic to Water’s opening track is called ‘Dithering’ but it feels more like a road trip.

The following ‘See, See, See, See’ continues this restrained approach, with DiFranco’s vocals bordering on husky (if I could ever use the term without cringing) and me feeling a little shortchanged. Then ‘Woe Be Gone’ introduces strings and lyrics that wake me up to pay attention. “I mean, what the hell, raise your hand if you’re at peace right now, in fact, just stand up and take a bow.”

‘Careless Words’ opens (and closes) with a cymbal crash that makes me think of The Velvet Underground, as DiFranco implores an audience of one to think before they speak – ironically with lyrics I’ve heard the Big Writer behind the Little Folksinger deliver with more aplomb.

Then, on the cusp of the midway point, comes a touch of honesty that stamps DIFRANCO back on this album in big, bold type; the album’s title track is as open and challenging as you’d want or expect.

Alongside some simple keys, the girl/guitar/metaphor formula casually exposes a raw nerve or too. I’m unsure whether it’s a person or profession that ‘tickles my throat and blisters my skin’ in ‘Allergic to Water’, but whatever the focus there’s nothing in this track to distract you from the message. Ani DiFranco sounds tired, of someone or something.

And as if in answer to my doubt, ‘Harder than it Needs to Be’ marks the halfway point and a clear direction for the suffering – on this track at least; “I married your mama, I married your papa, when I married you, and right now it’s clear who I’m talking to.” The single production credit now sits like an unwelcome guest.

The next two tracks, ‘Genie’ and ‘Happy All the Time’ I saw performed at The Glee Club, with the album recordings being (as I remember) tempered and less punchy. But live, forget about it. As good as it gets. Plus there’s an interesting reference to Isis (the goddess not terrorists) in the latter which just goes to show how fu*ked up the world media and Google can make our cultural melting pot. Some things move too quickly these days to be either real or rational.

‘Year Yr Right’ and ‘Tr’w’ somewhat pass me by, before the violins return in ‘Still My Heart’ – with a reverb on guitar that makes me think of a happy David Lynch soundtrack, if such a thing could occur. Then we’re back to stripped back strings and a clear vocal lead, as ‘Rainy Parade’ nudges us to solider on and try a smile once or twice a day (the end to this track, and by proxy the album as a whole, is simple and a bit wonderful too).

Allergic to Water is a proficient production with certainly something to say, just not always to me. There are some brilliant moments and never a dull one (missed perhaps, ignored maybe, but never dull); it’s fresh and inventive in parts, then comfortably familiar in others. But it doesn’t punch me in the face – not in the way I’ve wanted since To the Teeth “stuffed God down the barrel of gun” or Not a Pretty Girl made me realise I could be.

‘Steeped in an exhausted melancholy’ is what I wrote after my first listen, alongside a series of boxing metaphors and concerns for a stranger’s welfare (I’ll say it again, Ani DiFranco sounds somewhat worn down on this recording).

Outside of that was only a list of extended comparisons, which I said I wouldn’t do and have probably done enough. Besides, someone out there can always tell me what I should have thought – circa 1995 or before, that is.

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Allergic to Water is out on general release from today, Monday 13^th October, on Righteous Babe Records.

For more on Allergic to Water, alongside online purchasing & further Ani DiFranco recordings, visit http://www.righteousbabe.com/

October 13, 2014October 13, 2014

INTERVIEW: Sam Redmore – Freestyle

Words & pics by Ed King – follow him @EdKing2210

“You know when someone’s been doing something for a long time… you can tell they’ve mastered what they’re doing.”

I’m asking about the recent The Jungle Brothers gig, Freestyle’s first event since moving from a regular Friday night at The Bull’s Head to more sporadic spaces on the Hare & Hounds calendar. The man I’m asking is DJ/Producer Sam Redmore, who began promoting Freestyle “to get some more DJ bookings” and is now bringing Hip Hop luminaries to perform live in Kings Heath. Freestyle’s next event is a “double headliner” with Hackney Colliery Band and DJ Format on Fri 17^thOctober; perhaps not that sporadic then.

“They (The Jungle Brothers) hadn’t played in Birmingham for a long time,” continues Redmore, “so there were a lot of people who really wanted to see them, or who had missed the opportunity before.” And can they still pull it off? “I haven’t seen them before so I don’t know what they were previously like, but as far as a Hip Hop show goes they were on it.”

And he’s seen a couple. Sam Redmore has been promoting Freestyle since 2009, and until recently “it’s always been at The Bull’s Head.” Beginning as a free entry plug for the Gregorian holes left in the venue’s event calendar, Freestyle would pick up spares left by the regular promoters; when an awkward 5^th week of the month threatened an empty room, Freestyle would fill it.

“It started when I was working behind the bar, then I realised I quite liked running a night so started doing it monthly. And then… I don’t know. I enjoyed doing it so I carried on. ” I’ve heard worse raison d’être. “Then when Freestyle went weekly and had the live music…” a look of almost nostalgia surmises four years in a sentence. “I wanted to support local artists and the music scene in general, and it (Freestyle) seemed to be helping – so that became a good reason to carry on.”

Sam Redmore came to Birmingham from Bury St Edmonds, a place “too small for any music scene to really happen,” and found shelter at Leftfoot Venues. His Freestyle events were booked with “an active effort – to constantly be seeing and finding acts that were playing in Birmingham,” and proffered a healthy, regular mix of the familiar and unknown; line ups would showcase Birmingham favourites, or those bubbling under the obvious but certainly worth a platform, alongside out of town acts that might not otherwise play in the second city. And it worked, picking up a somewhat sudden profile for both Freestyle and the man behind it. I’m surprised to learn Sam Redmore landed in Birmingham only six years ago.

“The main thing I look for when putting a line up together is that I have to like their music,” Redmore releases with a laugh of good nature, “if there’s a band that I hear and think are good, that’s the main thing. Then, once you’ve got a list of bands that you’re looking to book, you can start to fit together line ups.”

And after four years of weekly events, an endevour any promoter would wince at, are there any acts he wanted but didn’t get? “There must be some, whether the dates didn’t work or the fees were a bit beyond what I could manage…” I lose him in a brief Scrubs moment of reflection, “… but I can’t think of any that stand out. Most of the bands I wanted to put on we put on.”

We talk more about the local music scene, the constraints (or comforts) of capacity, loyalty, and the problems facing Birmingham based promoters; I fish for cautionary tales from the near half decade Freestyle was promoted weekly.

Then the focus turns to October 17^th, when the second Freestyle event following its ‘summer hiatus’, and shift from weekly in Moseley to whenever in Kings Heath, will promote big brass ensemble, Hackney Colliery Band, alongside another member of the Hip Hop who’s who, DJ Format. It’s a big line up, with two credible city centre headliners performing at the suburban venue – an incongruity the Hare & Hounds has become deftly familiar with.

“I’ve of known Hackney Colliery Band for a few years,” explains Sam Redmore, “they sort of broke though a few years ago with a cover of Blackstreet’s ‘No Diggity’ and before that did quite a cheeky cover of ’Africa’ by Toto.” The thought of power ballads in big brass makes me curious, “…they’ve got a Prodigy medley too, and I think it was through those kind of things they started to catch people’s attention.”

It’s an approach/homage that’s worked well for other acts – the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain jumps immediately to mind, but Hackney Colliery Band are predominantly brass. Overwhelmingly brass. Will that work at the Hare & Hounds?

“Here (at the Hare & Hounds) they’ve done really well with similar bands; they had Hot Eight Brass Band sell out earlier in the year, and they’ve had Hypnotic Brass Ensemble and Young Blood Brass Band – all acts who would be inspiration for Hackney Colliery Band. They seem to do well here, there’s definitely a healthy thirst for it.”

And how about DJ Format, who’s sets manipulate music from Rock riffs to Jazz, and who arguably rose to prominence supporting Jurassic 5 and DJ Shadow – what does he feel about sharing a stage?

“When I spoke to Format about them (Hackney Colliery Band) he was like, ‘yeah wicked’. When he DJs he tends to play loads of funk, and you can tell from his productions that’s where a lot of his inspirations come from; Hackney Colliery Band are certainly on the funk spectrum.”

Will the audiences cross over, even in a venue known for an eclectic roster? “When I was putting the line up together I was pretty sure Format would be into what Hackney Colliery Band are doing, and vice versa. So to extend that, the fans of one would be into the other.” Freestyle may no longer be weekly, but it’s still a showcase.

“What I’m hoping for is that people who are there for Hackney Colliery Band will stay to see DJ Format, and people who have come for DJ Format will get down early enough to see Hackney Colliery Band as well.”

And with the pre-promotion “doing well,” (promoter’s slang for selling tickets) Sam Redmore may well get his wish; as Freestyle continues its transition from regular low key line ups to bigger, one off events. But even as he downplays the evolution, “I don’t see one as moving up from the other one,” I sense the ticking clock of ideas at least somewhere in the car.

But I guess that’s the problem with creative people, they just keep creating. Four years promoting weekly music events in a city you’ve recently moved to, and doing it well, is no mean feat; what do you do for Acts II, III & IV?

Often it’s just a matter of tenacity and patience. Or money. Or luck. Then, as with the artists Freestyle is now bringing to the city, after you’ve been doing something for a long time…

Freestyle presents… Hackney Colliery Band + DJ Format @ Hare & Hounds (Kings Heath) on Friday 17^th October. For further info & tickets, visit http://hareandhoundskingsheath.co.uk/event-listings/event/?eventID=10032387

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For more on Hackney Colliery Band, visit http://www.hackneycollieryband.co.uk/

For more on DJ Format, visit http://www.djformat.com/

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For more on Freestyle, visit https://www.facebook.com/freestylebirmingham

For further listings form the Hare & Hounds, visit http://hareandhoundskingsheath.co.uk

October 3, 2014

BPREVIEW: The Goon Show @ The Old Joint Stock, Fri 3rd & Sat 4th Oct

The Goon Show comes to The Old Joint Stock tonight (Fri 3^rd Oct) and tomorrow night (Sat 10^th Oct), as part of the opening programme for the Birmingham Comedy Festival.

Doors open at 7:30pm with tickets priced at £10.

Performing ‘Phantom Head Shaver of Brighton’ and ‘The Canal’, The Old Joint Stock Theatre Company secured rights from the Milligan estate to recreate the two 30min episodes, first recorded for the BBC in 1954.

The Goons – Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe & Michael Bentine, were prominent post WWII comedians and writers, specialising in irreverent and ‘off the wall’ sketches.

The Goon Show (nee Crazy People) was first commissioned by the BBC for the BBC Home Service (nee Radio 4) in 1951, running regularly across the wider station until 1960.

With almost immediate success, The Goon Show’s listening figures rose significantly throughout its inaugural the series – compelling an initially (and in some pockets, continuously) reticent BCC to commission a second series.

Despite serious disruption by cast members, with Bentine leaving the show and Spike Milligan’s increasing battle with mental health issues, series two cemented The Goon Show’s success and led to a further eight commissions – with the BBC series finally ceasing production in 1960.

The Goon’s longstanding principle characters, including Major Dennis Bloodnok, Eccles, Bluebottle, Minnie Bannister & Henry Crun, alongside Secombe’s idiotic straight man, Neddie Seagoon, have long outlived their initial BBC broadcasts – with artistic contemporaries, across the years, citing them as an influence or inspiration.

Commenting on issues of race, class, colonialism and art fraud (The Fake Neddie Seagoon), Milligan’s scripts were steeped in edgy social commentary – delivered from the shadows of post WWII austerity measures, national social reform and the dissolution of the British Empire.

As far as cornerstones of modern British comedy go, The Goon Show is arguably one of the most revered. And funny.

The Goon Show comes to The Old Joint Stock on Temple Row West (by St Philip’s Cathedral – City Centre) on Fri 3^rd Oct and Sat 10^th Oct – performing episodes ‘Phantom Head Shaver of Brighton’ and ‘The Canal’, as part of the Birmingham Comedy Festival.

For further info & tickets, visit http://www.oldjointstock.co.uk/whats-on/the-goon-show

For more on the Birmingham Comedy Festival, visit http://www.bhamcomfest.co.uk/

September 30, 2014October 1, 2014

BPREVIEW: The Jungle Brothers @ Hare & Hounds, Weds 1st Oct

The Jungle Brothers come to the Hare & Hounds in Kings Heath on Weds Oct 1^st, with support from Juice Aleem – alongside DJ sets from E Double D & Sam Redmore. Doors open at 8pm, tickets are 17.50 advance (MOTD)

Presented by Freestyle, The Jungle Brothers coming to Birmingham marks the welcome return of Sam Redmore’s eclectic showcase event after its summer hiatus.

A Hip Hop headline act that legitimately hold a place in the genre’s evolution, the Oct 1^st booking is also another bright feather in the Hare & Hounds‘ plumage – a venue that has seen acts from Roy Ayres to Frank Skinner perform on its main stage.

Releasing their debut album – Straight Out the Jungle, in 1988, The Jungle Brothers helped turn the face of US Hip Hop in a new direction.

Surrounded by Chuck D’s verbose political attacks and N.W.A’s arguable glorification of South Central violence, The Jungle Brothers began carving an approach that would see artists like Del la Soul, A Tribe Called Quest and Guru progress and develop.

Embracing elements of Jazz and House music, Straight Out the Jungle was produced by Todd Terry – marking a cross over from Hip Hop to Dance that would evolve the genre further still. The album’s final 1988 single release, ‘I’ll House You’, piqued the interest of Warner Brothers, who would go on to release The Jungle Brothers’ second LP, Done by the Forces of Nature, in 1989.

Alongside the rise of independent labels such as Def Jam and Tommy Boy, this attention began an interest from the music majors in the growing Hip Hop subculture that would, in many ways, define the industry to come. Just ask Kanye (or not).

A long cry from the humble Electro of the late 80’s, The Jungle Brothers are back in the UK for an 11 date tour – coming to the Hare & Hounds on Weds Oct 1^st. For a quick reminder, click here or on the link below:

‘I’ll House You’ (1988) / The Jungle Brothers

The Jungle Brothers come to the Hare & Hounds (Kings Heath) on Weds 1^st October, presented by Freestyle. For further info & tickets, visit http://hareandhoundskingsheath.co.uk/event-listings/event/?eventID=10032100

For more on The Jungle Brothers, visit http://www.junglebrothers4life.com/

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For more on Freestyle, visit https://www.facebook.com/freestylebirmingham

For further listings form the Hare & Hounds, visit http://hareandhoundskingsheath.co.uk