Releases Archives - Page 11 of 18 -

January 27, 2017

ALBUM: Go Get Gone – Worry Dolls

Words by Ed King

Certain genres are harder to give a fresh slant. Rock has been fist pumping since the 80’s, the blues can’t be too cruel or uplifting, and no self respecting gabba techno enthusiast is going to plumb for the ‘Vocal Mix’. But nesting in the even more unreachable branches of originality is country, a musical moniker that simply defines itself by itself – especially to an old colonial.

But Worry Dolls are braver than most, travelling across the pond to record their debut album, Go Get Gone, in Nashville – a ten track LP that is simple, melodic, unashamed and above all country. The inlay card has words like pedal steel, lap steel and dobro on it.

Go Get Gone is an endearing debut. A short and accessible LP, brimming with the ingredients that any self respecting heart needs to break and recover. Opening songs, ‘Endless Road’ and ‘Trains Leaving’, tell tales of empowerment on the open road, whilst the heart of the album is about the heart – ranging from the acoustic lament of ‘Don’t Waste Your Heart On Me’ to the punchy, almost Alannah Mylesesque adventure of ‘Bless Your Heart’. There’s even a piano ballad in there – which my brain placed somewhere between Aimee Mann and Cat Stevens… of all references. But listen to ‘She Don’t Live Here Anymore’ and let me know what you’re cerebral cortex comes up with.

And ‘Miss You Already’ sounds so much like a country standard I spent nearly an hour trying to find where Worry Dolls had borrowed it from. It’s all theirs. It’s not a Faron Young song or a British rom com. Thanks Google.

Vocally, Worry Dolls are strong – with one set of lungs taking a more confident lead across the album. The melodies on Go Get Gone are all as simple and superb as a good song should be, with a reassuring benchmark that’s often over shone. The downside in this album comes, sadly, from one of its foundation blocks. Production. It’s too obviously country.

Go Get Gone sounds like two eager, talented musicians with a vision stepped off a plane thousands of miles away and into a studio – only to be handheld by the defacto sound of one word. Country album 101; someone get me a slide guitar and call a fiddle player (the fiddle does sound good though). It’s frustrating because Worry Dolls have much more to offer than production-by-numbers; several songs on Go Get Gone show this too clearly to ignore.

But it does exactly what it set out to do, and one man’s critique shouldn’t tarnish the ‘lost friends and lovers and days and hours’ that Worry Dolls endured to breathe life into their debut. Go Get Gone is a good debut album and country was always going to be some tough silver to polish.

Plus (and I’m putting my future neck on the line a bit here) I believe live performances are where this body of work will really take shape. And with Worry Dolls kicking off the dust balls with a 25 date UK tour from 28^th January to 30^th April – coming to Birmingham’s Kitchen Garden Café on 22^nd February, there are many chances to see if this will all pan out.

God knows, I’m not brave enough to travel half way around the world to find out.

‘Break Your Heart’ / Worry Dolls

Go Get Gone by Worry Dolls is out from 27^th January, released through Bread & Butter Records. For more on Worry Dolls, including online purchase points, visit www.worrydollsmusic.com

Worry Dolls will be performing at the Kitchen Garden Café on 22^nd February. For direct gig info and online ticket sales, click here.

For more from the Kitchen Garden Café, including a full events programme and menus, visit www.kitchengardencafe.co.uk

For more from Bread & Butter Music, visit www.breadandbuttermusic.com

December 2, 2016December 2, 2016

ALBUM: Live at Union Chapel – Lissie

*On Saturday 3^rd December, Lissie Maurus (aka Lissie) performs at the O2 Institute – with support from Teddy Thompson.

To read our BPREVIEW, with links to online ticket sales, click here.*

Words by Ed King

It’s impossible to review Live at Union Chapel without cherry picking the ebbs and flows of Lissie Maurus’ musical career. But I guess that’s part of the point.

Lissie’s second live album (from a London venue too) was released in November 2016 – with a set list of great, good and go on then from the artist’s three previous studio albums. All acoustic, all solo; there is nothing hiding the musician from her music in this …Union Chapel LP. And since the release of her first autonomous album in February 2016, My Wild West, that vulnerable yet powerful premise is somewhat defining.

Live at Union Chapel starts with ‘Bully’, a tried and tested album track from Catching a Tiger with the name of her debut LP in the first stanza. It works as it should do, with the easy, inescapable melody delivered across the venue’s renowned acoustics. ‘And we are so damn proud of you’.

…Union Chapel’s second track, ‘Shameless’, is more of a production swerve ball – coming from the less well received Back to Forever, which is as far away from a stripped back acoustic set as you could run whilst holding a guitar. And whilst I’ll usually plumb for the less glitzy approach, I prefer the heavier production on the album track – although the acerbic nature of Maurus’ songwriting is much clearer when belted down the isles of the north London blasphemy.

‘Sun Keeps Rising’ is the third track on …Union Chapel and the first from Lissie’s self released LP, My Wild West. With a softer, dark, mournful timbre, ‘Sun Keeps Rising’ is a claw to the heart – delivered this time through six strings not 236. Maurus has always been a solid songwriter, but it is towards the end of ‘Sun Keeps Rising’ that we get the first proper mouthful of Lissie’s exceptional vocals.

Outside a cover of Joni Mitchell’s ‘River’, and why not, the remaining eight tracks on Live at Union Chapel repeat the triptych – although the beautifully controlled and addictive ‘They All Want You’ is the only other track from Back to Forever.

And this is perhaps the only swing/miss of this Lissie‘s sophomore live LP. Whilst listening to Live at Union Chapel I am left wanting some of the production cotton wool from tracks such as ‘In Sleep’ and ‘Hero’, yet every acoustic outing from Back to Forever shows just how prolific a songwriter Maurus can be.

I liked Lissie’s second album – for different reasons to its predecessor, but for the same strength in lyrics and melody. And performed with nothing but nylon and vocal chords it’s difficult to argue otherwise.

I’d have been tempted to wrap that around a brick and throw it through some windows before crossing the Atlantic again.

Live at Union Chapel by Lissie Maurus is out now, released through Lionboy Records, Cooking Vinyl and Thirty Tigers. My Wild West was released in February 2016.

For more on Lissie, visit www.lissie.com

September 9, 2016September 11, 2016

ALBUM: Wild World – Bastille

Words by Ed King

I once (half) joked that Bastille wouldn’t be able to release a follow up album until Dan Smith had another relationship break up. After all, the phenomenally successful (and catchy) Bad Blood was a litany of growing pains and heart ache – what could he (now they) pen 10+ more tracks about if not rooted in appropriated teen angst?

Well, the day is here. Festival showcases have been drip feeding the music consumer masses new material, and now, on September 9^th, in the year of our lord 2016, Bastille are back for Act II. Wild World is out on general release, with a string of high profile live dates to ram it further down your oesophagus – starting at Festival No6 and Bestival, ending at Newcastle’s Metro Radio (nee Telewest) Arena in November. And that’s a big fu*king room.

“Our second is about trying to make sense of the world around you, both as you see it and as it’s presented to you through the media,” explains Dan Smith – courtesy of Bastille’s Wild World press release. “It’s also about asking questions of the world and of the people in it. We wanted the album to be a bit disorientating – at times extroverted and introverted, light and dark.”

‘Disorientating’ isn’t how I’d describe Wild World, but it certainly jumps enough from pole to pole to keep your compass spinning. Much of Bad Blood (and I won’t base this review in comparison) began life as a solo endevour, with raw melodies and dairy scribbled lyrics that felt inherently personal – this was part of what made Bastille’s debut LP so endearing. That and crack cocaine melodies.

But from the first few bars (and Kelly LeBrock/Weird Science quote) of ‘Good Grief’, the sophomore’s opening track, you can feel the husky driven horde of production dragging it uncomfortably through snow. Is that funk, pop, soul? Is that a Vanilla Ice bass line? I’m still not sure what it is… and by the time the obnoxiously radio friendly chorus kicks in I’ve stopped caring.

‘The Currents’, track No#2, starts equally as confused – a speed garage rasping bass line, staccato string sample, and lyrics that feel like sloppy copy mélange from the ghost of LPs past. 2 x 3 ½ min rounds in and I’m beginning to get annoyed.

Then a stripped back return to the keyboard ushers in ‘An Act of Kindness’; Smith’s mournful lament over ivory begins simple enough, before reverbed vocals and staggered layers sets up a stormer of a new track. And I mean new in every possible sense – this is not Bad Blood Bastille, this is not a quick fire amalgamation, this is new. New and good, oh so fu*king good. By the time the second chorus kicks in I am driving down the motorway shouting the words at my dashboard.

The rest of the album follows a similar vein – some swings, some misses, some balls knocked out of the park; Wild World is a fourteen track career expansion, with a major label agenda clearly stoking the coals.

‘Warmth’ is an odd attempt to fix political commentary (…hhhmm) over a Casio backing track and 80’s party anthem, whilst ‘Send Them Off!’ is a staggeringly punchy anthem (out as a single on Oct 7^th) which straddles a right hook chorus with pin point body blow verses. All kinds of awesome.

‘Power’ begins as a litigiously brave homage to ‘Friction’ by The XX, before becoming as awful and obvious as you can get with sample rock riffs leading the charge. ‘Blame’ falls into the same electric six string trap; not a bad song or melody, but lost in the confusion of an 80’s production portmanteau.

Then you have the gloriously bluesy ballad ‘Two Evils’, which sticks to its uncompromising steel guitar guns for the full 2mins 46secs. ‘Four Walls (The Ballad of Perry Smith)’ follows the same suit, but more James Bay than Chris Isaak; neither will make Playlist A but they’re both reassuringly mature and well crafted songs.

Overall there are a few too many oh-so-clever cultural reference points in Wild World for my liking, and the overarching complaint is too many cooks – but as follow ups go, this is a pretty successful release. ‘Disorientating’, if you say so… I’ll stick with confused.

But something is clearly clear with Wild World – Dan Smith has more than a debut album to offer the world. And the world should listen.

Bastille needed to move away from the piano led laments and solo screams to become anything bigger than an epitaph to Bad Blood, and their ‘tricky second album’ is a strong move forward. It is a successful return to the public domain, one that will work well live, and with enough creative development and Radio One potential to balance both sides of the music/industry see-saw.

And as far as I can tell, no Valentine’s Day cards were hurt in the process. Job done gents, job done.

‘Send them Off!’ – Bastille

Wild World by Bastille is out now, on general release through Virgin Records.

For more on Bastille, including online sales & full tour details, visit www.bastillebastille.com

July 4, 2016July 4, 2016

RELEASE: Blood Red Songs EP – The Hungry Ghosts

*The Hungry Ghosts play The Sunflower Lounge on Weds 6^th July, supported by The Terror Watts – as presented by Sonic Gun. For direct info & tickets, click here.*

Words by Ed King / Live pic by Rob Hadley, artwork courtesy of The Hungry Ghosts

Some things you don’t forget. The birthday of a loved one, your first broken bone. That moment in childhood when you viciously grew up. The words to ‘American Pie’. Neat bourbon. Then there are surprises.

Today. Monday 4^th July. Independence Day. The Hungry Ghosts have released their debut EP, Blood Red Songs – available through Setting Son Records. Four tracks of twisted blues and ‘swamp music’ from the Redditch based four piece. This is not a memory or a surprise. This is a fact. And this is a review – a series of words that explain to you, the reader/listener, my opinion.

I’ll save us all some time. Ferocious. Superb. Dark. Ball grabbing. One track too short.

But backtrack a little…

The first time I saw The Hungry Ghosts was both a memory and a surprise, having been invited to see them play one of their ubiquitous support slots – this time at The Sunflower Lounge. I arrived alone, squeezed myself onto the stairs and watched, loaded with dark rum and tired anticipation.

But it didn’t take long. After about a minute you knew, I knew, the room knew; we were watching something significant. There are bands and there are rock bands. The Hungry Ghosts were, from the first moment I saw them, unabashed and raw. A little messy, a little honest, and unlike any other contemporary I could cite on the circuit. Such a surprising memory, in fact, that I’ve been a little obsessed ever since.

Since then Birmingham Review has followed The Hungry Ghosts, on the record on off – interviewing, publishing, interviewing, not publishing – and waiting for the day we could cover them as a headline act. That day is Wednesday. And that gig is back at The Sunflower Lounge. Click here for details.

But the groundwork that has been put in place, both the on stage and studio foundations, shines through in Blood Red Songs; fours tracks of undiluted, gritty, psychedelic blues rock – screamed out like the end of your breath.

From the opening dark twisted metal riff of ‘Father Snake Moan’ you know where you are – lying on the back seats of a reckless Firebird, a bottle to your lips, Joe Joseph’s contorted vocals making you run to or from something that may well destroy you.

Then the jagged strut of ‘Super King King’ comes through and you’re back up, the wind pushing your face around. This is the easiest song to hold; three minutes of stripped back mescaline blues, Jodie Lawrence blending into a vocal lead – before a rising deep breath welcomes a maelstrom finale I haven’t heard since The Smashing Pumpkins’ ‘Starla’. Produced to perfection with bravery on every corner.

‘Death Rattle Blues’ follows with a Velvet Underground punch; backwashed steel drum echoes, raw vocals, droning guitar drawls – stalking the room like John Travolta with a shotgun. Before the comedown of ‘Silver Horses’, an opiate lullaby, closes this rude awakening a little too early.

Overall Blood Red Songs is ferocious; a superb debut EP, one that introduces the dark severity of this band in a playful ball grabbing grip. My only complaint, that it’s arguably one track too short.

But The Hungry Ghosts have risen to something else with this recording – it’s brave, accomplished, and it wants to live in your head. A calling card; one I can see confidently weaving itself through the empty cider bottles and fetal positions of a festival afternoon. They’ve worked hard too, fine tuning an anarchy that’s much more graft than surprise. And if Blood Red Songs doesn’t create a further calendar of memories, then there is something simply flawed with the world.

*The Hungry Ghosts play The Sunflower Lounge on Weds 6^th July, supported by The Terror Watts – as presented by Sonic Gun. For direct info & tickets, click here.*

__________

For more on The Hungry Ghosts, www.thehungryghosts.co.uk

For more from The Sunflower Lounge, visit ww w.thesunflowerlounge.com

January 18, 2016

RELEASE: “Heroes” (David Bowie) by SHATTER EFFECT

Words by Ed King

Following the announcement of David Bowie’s death (on Monday 11^th January for those of you living in a shoe box) the UK… nay world, has been gripped in a seemingly unstoppable explosion of nostalgia and celebration.

Major radio stations have pulled out every piece of interview they can, the national tour operators are hastily pitching A-list memorials, publishing houses are sifting though photo galleries and back catalouges, with most other animals in the media circus finding some Brixton-boy-done-good stool to perch on.

And whilst I’ll admit I am not a David Bowie superfan (I have no lightning flash tattoos or rare German imprints hidden away), seeing the posthumous manifestation of his footprints has been something quite special. Plus I dare you to watch the ‘Lazarus’ video now without a visceral pain.

I heard ‘the news’ as Birmingham Review was on its way to Wales with SHATTER EFFECT, to write a feature about a new music video the Midlands based electro/rockers were filming. And I knew the band were big fans of David Bowie, with Rebecca Davies (lead vocals/keys) and Robin Davies (vocals/guitar) having referenced him as an inspiration many times in interviews before.

Turning up to meet them early in the am, with a van full of kit, a folder full of Google Maps and a heavy cloud hanging over us was a depressing as you’d imagine. You know that moment when there really is nothing to say… yeah. Now drive to North Wales.

But during the day, SHATTER EFFECT worked out how they wanted to say goodbye to the Thin White Duke – with a personal cover of “Heroes”, the title track from Bowie‘s 1977 seminal album.

And you know what, it’s also ‘something quite special’. Have a stop, look, listen below:

“Heroes” (David Bowie) by SHATTER EFFECT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V1Z0Av4ZlE

The following is a full statement from SHATTER EFFECT:

‘The news of David Bowie’s death generated great sadness, but also compelled many inspirational moments – from the impromptu memorial outside the Brixton Academy to the countless individual tributes of love and respect. He was an artist who compelled many to stand up and follow their passions.

“Heroes” is an inspiring song, from a man who showed a constrained world how to live more freely. As a band we couldn’t think of a better way to say thank you, and goodbye, to David Bowie.’

Originally recorded in Berlin, with producers Brian Eno and Tony Visconti, David Bowie released “Heroes” in September 1977. The lead single and title track from his twelfth studio album, “Heroes” was recorded within 500 yards of the Berlin Wall – with members of the Red Guard reportedly spying on the studio whilst the LP was recorded.

The central album in Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy, and the only LP to be recorded entirely in Germany, “Heroes” was cited as a reflection of the divided city and a call for freedom from oppression. The title, “Heroes”, is hat tip to the 1975 release ‘Hero’ by the krautrock band Neu! – formed after Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother left Kraftwerk in 1971.

David Bowie’s subsequent concert outside the Reichstag in 1987 sparked violent riots on the Wall’s east side, with the East Berliner’s not allowed to attend the event. Performing in both English and German, the 1987 Concert for Berlin is often cited as adding significant momentum to the worldwide call for the Berlin Wall to be brought down.

Rebecca Davies, SHATTER EFFECT’s lead singer & keyboard player, says: “On Monday we lost one of our heroes. David Bowie’s death came as a great shock to the band. We have been influenced by his work for many years and he will continue to inspire us for many more to come. ”

To stream “Heroes” by SHATTER EFFECT direct from the band’s YouTube channel, alongside other SHATTER EFFCT videos, click here

For more on SHATTER EFFECT, visit http://www.shattereffect.com/

__________

For the official David Bowie website, visit http://www.davidbowie.com/