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May 10, 2017May 10, 2017

BREVIEW: Call Me Unique’s Urban Gypsy II EP – launch night @ Mama Roux’s 05.05.17

Words by Ed King / Pics by Michelle Martin & Ed King

‘You’ve always had the power to go back…’

It’s here: the day in question, of reckoning, red letter. Call Me Unique is launching her Urban Gypsy II EP tonight, three years since its predecessor came off stage at The Yardbird, with a smorgasboard showcase at Mama Roux’s – the raw and raucous live music sponge in the Rainbow portfolio. And I’ve seen the running order; I kid you not there’s over ten artists joining Unique on stage, with an average of five minutes to perform and turn around. I’d make a joke, but it’s an important day.

Known for many years as the Girl-With-The-Guitar (and still on some bus routes) Call Me Unique has been frustratingly close to something for some time. Her combination of soul, rap, jazz, verse and scat, peppered with flecks of folk and bonfire laments, has been circling the thermals for a while; deserving of adulation beyond this city, whilst gaining some ground in London and Europe (based out of Budapest) Call Me Unique has sorely needed a win. Not a pat on the back, not a friend saying ‘well done’, a win. And the only way this was going to happen, to really happen, to happen in a way that would push this all forward, was the holy trinity: write, record, release.

So, no pressure then.

Walking into Mama Roux’s the first thing I notice are the numbers. Full room – check. Next are the people who make up those numbers – a regular line up of musicians and music professionals, with some healthy creative faces on the periphery to even things out. Then there’s what I can only assume are Mama Roux’s regular crowd or the throng that attend Digbeth Dining Club, with a handful trapped at two iron mesh tables by the front of the stage. I maybe address that one.

But before anyone can say ‘shall we sit upstairs’ the stage begins, with Unique and guests walking us through the EP that started ‘the Urban Gypsy Experience’ a handful of years ago. ‘Stranger’ is up first, with rappers Trademark Blud and Boy October (aka Christian Deveaux) giving some significant punch to my favourite track from Urban Gypsy I, before trading places with Kezia Soul and Simon Jnr for ‘Here’.

The eponymous track gets Lady Sanity and RTKal up on stage, always good to see, before the pinnacle performance of the first half from Jugganaut and Malik MD7 – bouncing ‘Bombs & Wars’ around the room and back again. So far this is going extremely well. Then Ed Geater and Affie Jam join Call Me Unique to perform ‘Sholow’, with Geater’s vocal leading the song in a memorable Bill Withers moment. It’s not often you see these three on stage without guitars in their hands; wouldn’t mind that happening again.

N.B. Ed Geater produced Call Me Unique’s Urban Gypsy II EP, that’s why he is on stage tonight. All the other artists are here from love, affinity, involvement or love. Life is quite simple.

Round Two is a showcase of Urban Gypsy II, the full EP getting performed with a selection of guests – kicking off, as the god of track listing intended, with the dreamlike ‘Dreamers’. A surprisingly effective cover of ‘Genie in a Bottle’ comes up next, with a mix of vox pops and ‘eerie sounds’ taking us into ‘Birds’ – the second track from the EP in question.

The rib digging ‘Only Girl in Manville’ gets a darker delivery, as the band step back to let the words speak for themselves, before the first (noticeable, at least) slip up on a running order that could have been Chrystal Maze challenge. But without missing a beat, figuratively or literally, a quick crowd search then a “come on up here girl” pulls Tina Amana up on stage for the ‘Say My Name’ cover, who I haven’t seen with Unique since the Sun at the Station gig back in March 2015. It’s a beautiful silver lining, and represents the genuine love and support that fills up this room tonight. They even share a mic. Although that was more a technical issue than some crazed close quarter duet.

Leanne Louise is our next guest of honour, as her and Unique banter back and forth with ‘Hashtag’; no egos, a shared stage and joint presence. Job done. Then a journey back to the source with ‘The Wife’, before the final two tracks from Call Me Unique’s new EP, ‘Shoulda’ and ‘Ashon’, gets their turn in the spotlight tonight. There’s a lot of personal exposure on Urban Gypsy II but perhaps these two tracks are amongst the more visceral – challenging hypocritical fists in the former and honouring a ‘son who never got to breathe’ in the latter. But I’ll sum up the end of this set, of this gig, of this obstacle course release, in one word. Strength. Even with tears streaming down your face.

Call Me Unique has a few more to add anyway, with her standard call to “support local artists” getting sandwiched with a more mature declaration of strength. There’s that word again. But oddly, perhaps, perhaps not, it was the call to “make this our home” that I walk out of the venue carrying closest. The Yardbird was an important playground for Call Me Unique and others; full of talent, ambition and garrulous endevour. It meant a lot to many. And whilst I’ve only been in Mama Roux’s a handful of times I’m old enough to see something unfolding itself here, tonight, with an honest soul at the centre. And I can all too easily be a cynic.

So go out and buy Urban Gypsy II, support your local music scene, support your local music venues. Do as she says. And someone, somewhere under the arches in Digbeth, with an address book and a diary, should start seriously clicking their heals together.

‘…there’s no place like home.’

Call Me Unique’s Urban Gypsy II EP is out now, launched at Mama Roux’s on Friday 5th May. For more on Call Me Unique, including online sales of Urban Gypsy II, visit www.callmeunique.com

For more from Mama Roux’s, including a full events programme and online ticket sales, visit www.therainbowvenues.co.uk/venues/mama-rouxs

May 4, 2017May 4, 2017

BPREVIEW: Call Me Unique’s Urban Gypsy II EP – launch night @ Mama Roux’s 05.05.17

Words by Ed King

On Friday 5^th May, Call Me Unique will launch her new Urban Gypsy II EP at Mama Roux’s.

Doors open at 8:30pm, with kicking out time bang on the witching hour. Entry is a curious ‘Pay as You Feel’, but it would be worth saving some shekles for a copy of the Urban Gypsy II EP itself which will be on sale for the first time on Friday. Plus there’s a bar and Digbeth Dining Club… For more direct gig info, click here.

That being said, you’re going to get more artists on stage than is probably good for you – so throwing some money at the rider bill might be a considerate gesture. Joining Call Me Unique will be Ed Geater, Leanne Louise, Malik MD7, Lady Sanity, Trademark Blud, Boy October (Christian Deveaux), RTKal, Keziasoul, Affie Jam, Juggernaut, Simon Jnr. Plus ‘a few surprises’, which could well be the fire department turning up to make sure there’s still room on stage.

It’s a local luminary love in, celebrating a new body of work from Call Me Unique getting its first on stage outing. And why not, damn it. Birmingham Review was there for the Urban Gypsy I EP launch in 2014 where the same good vibes and good will PACKED OUT The Yardbird on a cold Monday in January, and we’ve have been chomping at several bits for the past… three years, three months and eight days to hear the follow up. There’s an album lurking in the background somewhere too; big things this year, as the girl with the guitar grows ever closer to a more mature spotlight.

Urban Gypsy I was a storming EP; you can read my BREVIEW of the release here and the BREVIEW of The Yardbird launch party here. Its only misstep was not having an album to back it up. Time past, creative frustrations grew, Call Me Unique started building a significant fan base in mainland Europe and I honestly didn’t know if we’d get our second pound of flesh from this artist.

Then, eventually, a ZIP file of Urban Gypsy II lands in my inbox; I’ll admit more than a few nails didn’t make it that morning.

Produced by Ed Geater, Call Me Unique’s Urban Gypsy II EP is a ‘richer landscape’ than its predecessor, with 6 tracks (including the beautiful ‘Dreamers’ intro) of honest intent. Moments more ‘dark and brooding’, then mournful, are followed by a playful lilt and, ultimately, hope; there’s a definite step up in both the confidence and sound of this EP.

The content has matured too, with Call Me Unique shining a unashamed light on some deeply personal subject matter: domestic violence, ‘a son who never got to breathe’, love, the betrayal of love, fickleness, friendship, the fight for mental health, and above all a woman’s strength to stay in the game and smile whilst winning it. It’s beautiful, worth the wait, and as I said in my BREVIEW of the lead single ‘Shoulda’, brings a ‘proud treble clef tear to my eye’. Birmingham has some incredible talent at the moment, with Call Me Unique and her peers that appear on this EP being amongst the top strata. Proud is the word.

Ed Geater, a man whose name has been on this site a few times recently, has also mastered the production (if you’ll excuse the wording). Proving to be just as talented behind the glass as his is on stage, Geater’s work on Call Me Unique’s Urban Gypsy II EP is exactly what you’d want from a producer – pulling the strong strands from an artist, getting them to own their own, then tying them together for the world to understand.

But you’ll get to see/hear for yourself soon enough. So hold on until the end of the week, get yourself to Mama Roux’s or the various online outlets, check out Urban Gypsy II, then watch all those eager years and crossed fingers start to fade… fade… fade… Just add album.

Call Me Unique’s Urban Gypsy II EP – launch night @ Mama Roux’s 05.05.17

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Call Me Unique launches her Urban Gypsy II EP at Mama Roux’s on Friday 5^th May – for direct gig info, click here. For more on Call Me Unique, visit www.callmeunique.com

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For more from Mama Roux’s, including a full events programme and online ticket sales, visit www.therainbowvenues.co.uk/venues/mama-rouxs

May 3, 2017May 2, 2017

BPREVIEW: Maxïmo Park @ O2 Institute 05.05.17

Words by Ed King / Pics by Ed Taylor

On Friday 5^th May, Maxïmo Park will be playing at the 02 Institute. Doors open from 7pm, with tickets priced at £20.50 + booking fee – as presented by SJM Concerts. Minimum age for entry is 14.

N.B. At the time of writing this gig has been ‘Sold Out’, so check with reputable ticket providers for spares and returns. For direct gig info, click here.

Maxïmo Park will be playing further UK dates in Newcastle (6^th May), Aberdeen (8^th May), Glasgow (9^th May), Sheffield (10^th May), London (12^th May), Bexhill-on-Sea (13^th May), Cambridge (15^th May), Cardiff (16^th May), Falmouth (17^th May), Manchester (19^th May), Margate (27^th May). For direct tour details, including online ticket sales, click here.

Maxïmo Park will be back in Birmingham on Saturday 16^th September – co-headling the main stage at the Beyond the Tracks festival on Eastside Park, Birmingham City Centre. For direct festival info, click here.

Schlepping up, down and around the UK, Maxïmo Park are on the headline trial with their new album, Risk to Exist – released on 24^th April through Cooking Vinyl. To read the Birmingham Review of Risk to Exist, from Damien Russell, click here.

Named after a park dedicated to the Cuban Generalisimo Máximo Gómez – a key military figure in Cuba’s war of independence – Maxïmo Park have never been too far away from the murky world of socio-political-meets-pop-rock.

And whilst the-man-in-the-hat, Paul Smith (not that kind of hat, not that Paul Smith), was once quoted as saying ‘I think it’s people who change the world but music can influence people’, Maxïmo Park have arguably used their sixteen years of creative endevours to do just that. Plus they’ve made their own beer. So, on the road during the UK’s local elections and campaign trails for the general… that’s going to be some green room to tidy.

But with a front man you’d rip your granny’s teeth out to get, Maxïmo Park also have a reputation for pretty electrifying stage shows, no matter what your political leanings. Expect strutting, jumping, the occasional strobe, and the band’s name (sometimes literally) up in lights somewhere. And with a new album to hock at the merch stand I wouldn’t expect too many pulled punches, even with two fingers extended in the face of totalitarian capitalism.

Birmingham Review last saw Maxïmo Park, again at the 02 Institute, in December 2015 – click here to read Helen Knott’s Birmingham Review of the gig.

‘Risk to Exist’ – Maxïmo Park

Risk to Exist by Maxïmo Park is out on general release from 21^st April, via Cooking Vinyl. For more on Maxïmo Park, visit www.maximopark.com

For more on Maxïmo Park at the O2 Institute, including venue details and online ticket sales, visit www.academymusicgroup.com/o2institutebirmingham/events/928783/maximo-park-tickets

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For more from the O2 Institute, including full venue details and online ticket sales, visit www.academymusicgroup.com/o2institutebirmingham

For more from SJM Concerts/Gigs and Tours, visit www.gigsandtours.com

April 29, 2017

BREVIEW: Table Scraps + Black Mekon @ Hare & Hounds 27.04.17

Words by Ed King / Pics by James Thomas / Video by Trapeze Film

*Birmingham Review caught up with Table Scraps just before the doors opened. To watch our interview with the band click here, or on the YouTube window at the end of this BREVIEW*

There are more qualified people here tonight, than I. As the evening rolls out conversations about blues, rock, blues rock, punk, rockabilly and the hangover of Ozzy Osbourne (figuratively), I stand on the periphery looking in. My extensive knowledge of the Tori Amos back catalogue won’t help me here.

Luckily, I have Damien Russell: drinking companion, back up wordsmith and the Cyrano de Bergerac of American blues and pan Atlantic punk. All the informed references come from him. The visceral reactions (which you could argue are just as punk as punk) and tired metaphors, they come from me.

A packed room cut in half, the Hare & Hounds Venue 2 (minus the back bar..?) is comfortably crowded as Black Mekon take the stage – and I mean take, jumping more than any men in matching jackets and Kato masks may have ever jumped before. A searing harmonica cuts over a steady, kick, drum… in a barrage of twisted blues. Strings break, shoulder straps break, speaker stacks hiss; the bouncing boy to my left is told politely “…ok, ok.” Reds, greens and dry ice take us into a double jab at “the welfare state” as short blast songs punch their way around an eagerly complicit crowd. “You’ve got to understand, Black Mekon can’t die.” The room continues to fill.

As Round One comes to a close we make a short trip through doors not meant for us, past a cigarette, then into a curiously quiet downstairs bar; maybe amphetamine is making a comeback. “Do you get the feeling if Nick Cage was to start a punk band…” offers Damien, as I write down perhaps the only intelligent part of my summary.

Some more conversations about Americana, blues and the relevance of territory and skin colour, then back up stairs for Round Two – or Table Scraps, as the bill poster presents them. I feel somewhat more confident as I do know some, not all, but enough Table Scraps songs to confidently chip in from this point, and no one is in this room by mistake. But I have ears, the Internet and not just red headed piano players in my iTunes account. And like all artificial intelligence, I too can learn.

But when the immediately faster tempo throws itself on our mercy, or perhaps the other way around, I don’t really care. See, I used an adverb, that’s how reckless I’ve become. Table Scraps on record sound gloriously DIY, but live there an added sheen. I heard ‘Motorcycle’ in the soundcheck (one of my repeated Table Scraps endevours, if not only for the lyrics) and had been “surprised at how clean the sound was”. But being neither musician nor sound engineer, this was the first of my potentially garrulous assumptions.

On stage, tonight, hidden by a sea of frenetic heads, Table Scraps sound raw, low, deep, punchy and all the other adjectives a fucking rock band should be. Or punk, or whatever the appropriate genre moniker may be here (please refer to line one). By the time ‘Electricity’ is basking in a frenetic but tight guitar solo, I’m fully on board. This is fun.

The song of the hour is up next, ‘My Obsession’, as the Table Scraps half of the latest 45 Consortium 7” gets drop kicked off stage; fierce and threatening, in a good way, like some clever simile involving Christian Slater and a Magnum .44. Then an elongated misstep proves DIY is still DIY, and a well natured “…fucking drummers man,” from Scott Abbott take us into a track the set list calls ‘Teeth’. God bless garage rock, a repeated chorus and ‘belched out’ harmonies – it’s good to see something so tight yet so confident, even in its fuck ups. It makes me like them more.

The addition of Tim Mobbs seems to have helped bolster the bolshy two piece into a more well rounded trio, with the band themselves citing the added freedom they now enjoy – on stage and in the logistic that get them there. Mobbs also has a Theremin, which he plays sporadically (is there any other way..?) by using the head of his bass guitar. It adds some extra colour and twist, no pun intended, and for some reason makes me think of the child’s chemistry set I used to own. No idea why, but warm and fuzzy is the end result.

There are moments in the rest of the set where the rapid punches move to more obvious body blows, as elements of grunge and stadium rock wrestle each other on stage. And there is some similarity to a band whose name suggests a violent approach to large seeded fruit… But the tag team vocals and unashamed solos bring a fresh edge. It is perhaps also worth pointing out that being 5ft 7” on a good day I can’t see much of what’s going on at the front of the room; I write and record this evening relying on my more audible senses.

“You know this one…” yells Abbot, before ‘Motorcycle’ stands as the penultimate track of the night – with no pretence of an encore strutting itself to the wings and back. It’s a big sound to get right in a small room, but Table Scraps have delivered their set with aplomb and I am itching with something to see them on a large outdoor stage. Roll on September 16^th.

But for now it’s back downstairs for more cider, by-partisan backslapping and reference points I will have to note down and research. Now what exactly is a ‘Black, Flag..?’

INTERVIEW: Table Scraps @ Hare & Hounds – 27.04.17

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For more on Table Scraps, visit www.table-scraps.bandcamp.com

For more on Black Mekon, visit www.blackmekon.com

For more from the Hare & Hounds (Kings Heath), including full event listing and online ticket sales, visit www.hareandhoundskingsheath.co.uk

April 27, 2017April 30, 2017

THE GALLERY: Counteract’s 7th Birthday @ The Sunflower Lounge 22.04.17

Words by Ed King / Pics by Rob Hadley

‘We’re going to need a bigger boat…’

You got that right. On Saturday 22^nd, Counteract celebrated its seven years around the sun with a smorgasbord of bands at The Sunflower Lounge, playing to a packed out room with no extra wiggle in sight.

Stacking the bill were The Mother’s Earth Experiment, The Hungry Ghosts, The Dream Collective and special guests, Jaws – sneaking in as a surprise headline appearance. Rob Hadley was there to shoot an extended photo feature for THE GALLERY, whilst Ed King caught up with Counteract founder, editor-in-chief and overall Captain Ahab, Richard Franks, earlier in the day. See a selection of Rob’s shots below and watch out for Ed’s interview with Richard Franks, online in May.

A celebration of The Midland’s music scene, Counteract’s 7^th birthday was an homage to the great, good, long, short and curlies of today’s regional live circuit. Coming back to blow out the candles with a publication that backed them from the beginning, Jaws were on ferocious form – sending a sea of bodies bouncing ever closer to The Sunflower’s ceiling. Some crowd surfers may have even made it.

The Mother’s Earth Experiment gave a blistering set of multi-percussion-precision-psych-rock (‘dem boys play tight) bathed in what can only be described as ‘death by lava lamp’, whilst The Hungry Ghosts played their first Birmingham gig with their new line up (and a few new songs) – cramming two extra bags of blood and bone onto The Sunflower’s already relatively cozy stage. The Dream Collective were fixed at the bow though – opening the birthday shenanigans with a pretty inter‘stellar’ live set. Right, now where’s that life preserver…

Check out a cherry picked buffet of Rob Hadley’s pics below, or click on the relevant links to see the Full Flickr of Pics. There’s some on our Instagram page too. Enjoy. We did. Happy birthday Counteract; rock on to a cake with eight candles.

Jaws (special guests) @ Counteract’s 7^th Birthday 22.04.17 / Rob Hadley – Birmingham Review

For more on Jaws, visit www.jawsjawsjaws.co.uk

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The Mother’s Earth Experiment @ Counteract’s 7^th Birthday 22.04.17 / Rob Hadley – Birmingham Review

For more on The Mother’s Earth Experiment, visit www.themothersearthexperiment.bandcamp.com

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The Hungry Ghosts @ Counteract’s 7^th Birthday 22.04.17 / Rob Hadley – Birmingham Review

For more on The Hungry Ghosts, visit www.the-hungry-ghosts.bandcamp.com

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The Dream Collective @ Counteract’s 7^th Birthday 22.04.17 / Rob Hadley – Birmingham Review

For more on The Dream Collective, visit www.soundcloud.com/the_dream_collective

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For more on Counteract, visit www.counteract.co

For more from The Sunflower Lounge, visit www.thesunflowerlounge.com