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May 25, 2019

ALBUM: Ten Years on Four Chords – Sam Lambeth

Words by Abi Whistance / Pics by Chris Close

Giving your work away for someone else to meddle with is tough, but it seems that Sam Lambeth has finally plucked up the courage to do so. Immediately feeling far more sophisticated than anything he’s done before, Ten Years on Four Chords has managed to dodge a Thelma and Louise-style ending, letting someone else take the wheel for a large proportion of the album. Bedroom-quality recordings no more; production has worked wonders on tracks like ‘All the Best’ and ‘Start’, making them potential indie anthems of the Summer – albeit slightly generic ones.

I’ll be the first to say it, there’s a lot going on here. The nature of a ‘best of’ album is to lump all the finest you’ve got into one (rarely neat and tidy) package, and that’s pretty much exactly what has happened.

With a combination of songs from the likes of Quinn, Winona, The MonoBloggers and Lambeth himself, Ten Years on Four Chords does unfortunately struggle to avoid feeling a little jumpy at times – the hop from tracks like ‘Time Stands Still’ to ‘All The Lazy Hipsters’ instigating similar aftereffects to that of whiplash. This is but a small critique though (and perhaps an unfair one) for an album that is, at the end of the day, a compilation and thus fulfilling its purpose.

Yet I do think there’s a lot to be said for the range of quality on this record; most notably tracks associated with Lambeth’s days with Quinn, there’s a clear growth of both maturity and musical ability in his material since then. Influences have become clearer, his sound more fine-tuned. And it seems that with his work post-Quinn, Lambeth has finally found what works best for him.

Of course, I understand the necessity of including tracks from the Quinn era on this album, with the band arguably being one of his most notable ventures musically in the titular Ten Years… However, I can’t help but wish that some remastering had gone on here. With Quinn no longer together I’m sympathetic that this may be inconvenient, and maybe I’m being a little too demanding of a compilation album, but the dip in quality is so notable that it feels a shame to have not done anything about it. There are some good indie tracks on this record and the only thing holding it back from being a solid album throughout is the wavering quality.

Nevertheless, this can only be seen as a positive step forward in Lambeth’s career; Ten Years on Four Chords holds some of the man’s greatest musical achievements of the past decade. From The MonoBloggers to Lambeth gone lone-wolf, there’s an immense landscape of material to cover on this album – weighing in at a heavy seventeen tracks and a whole fifty-eight minutes for you to sink your teeth into. Enjoy.

Ten Years on Four Chords (official trailer) – Sam Lambeth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BK5BV1nH0yA

For more on Sam Lambeth, visit www.soundcloud.com/samlambethmusic

For direct info for the Ten Years on Four Chords showcase at The Victoria on 12^th July, including venue details and links to online ticket sales, click here.

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NOT NORMAL NOT OK is a campaign to encourage safety and respect within live music venues, and to combat the culture of sexual assault and aggression – from dance floor to dressing room.

To learn more about the NOT NORMAL NOT OK campaign, click here. To sign up and join the NOT NORMAL NOT OK campaign, click here.

If you have been affected by any of the issues surrounding sexual violence – or if you want to report an act of sexual aggression, abuse or assault – click here for information via the ‘Help & Support’ page on the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK website.

September 11, 2018

BREVIEW: The August Showcase with Lice, The Lizards, The Hungry Ghosts, Whitelight @ Hare & Hounds 12.08.18

Words by Ed King / Pics by Paul Reynolds

Urrgghh… a gig on a Sunday, who has the energy/serotonin left?

Apparently quite a few people, as I saunter (stumble) into the Hare & Hounds Room 2 alongside a very respectable crowd. Numberswise that is, they could all be slow boiling lost children at home for all I know. Or care. My Sunday roll call of compassion is often woefully one-sided. But a strong tail end of the weekend audience have turned out to support RDE and Setting Son’s August showcase – with local lads (and it is a bit of a sausage fest tonight) Whitelight, The Lizards, and The Hungry Ghosts all supporting Joe Talbot’s label champions, Lice.

Whitelight, a band I’ve not heard of before tonight but who I’m reliably told have come from the aftermath of Shaake, take up the first space on the bill – a stripped back twosome, guitar and drums, delivering a big room sound that far surpasses their square inches on stage.

Jokingly I said words to that effect would be my review, but adding ‘fuck me they rock’ probably sums it up quite nicely. There may be a few disjointed moments tonight, in set relying too heavily on the ‘break… and kick in’ rock power play, but the musicianship from this arena filling sound is a more than a little impressive. I could even use the word ‘Hendrix’ and not feel like too much of a fraud. But keep an eye on those listings and make your own addled mind up about them. Whitelight; you have been warned.

Next up are The Hungry Ghosts, a band I love to the core but feel compelled to judge with an extra stern eye. And ear. And gut. And all those things I need to be truthful. But having a replacement bass player on stage tonight – with Miles Cocker filling in for Emily Doyle over a few of the summer months – the most immediate of my knee jerk commentaries is ‘an overwhelming newness’ to their performance tonight.

It’s exciting, it’s rock and roll, but it’s also a little… The stage, for a start, feels too small, with the proficient wall of blues rock tumbling over the first song and smothering ‘Death Rattle Blues’ – the sophomore on the set list tonight. I’ve seen The Hungry Ghosts crammed into much tighter corners, but something is uncomfortably full tonight. And yet there is a… about it all. And as I wrestle with the ellipses that will no doubt be haunting my copy later on, I write ‘too much of something’, ‘this band just keep getting better’, before adding ‘I don’t know’ to my drunk spider scrawl.

‘Lazaro’ follows, with Joe (INSERT SURNAME HERE)’s vocals feeling well rounded for a weekend finale, before a bit of a swing/miss from new song ‘Jesus Fever’ and a somewhat lacking rendition of the tried and tested ‘Super King King’ – one of my longstanding favourites from this band’s slaughterhouse repertoire. But when you’re close to perfection it’s hard to stay consistent, and exciting ebbs and discouraging flows continue from ‘the ghosts’ set tonight – yet I am, once again, left both curious and eager. For all its ferocity and fallacy, it feels like something is brewing in The Hungry Ghosts’ set list tonight, with this Sunday showcase perhaps just first public introduction to an exciting evolution. But never fear; we’ll see/hear from The Hungry Ghosts soon enough, and ‘Shake the Devil’ will no doubt be in there somewhere near the start.

It is now that I must issue an honest, albeit rather unsatisfactory, apology, as I miss The Lizards’ set due to cider and an earth shatteringly endearing band I fell afoul of at the downstairs bar. But I shall leave you with two pearls of wisdom: 1) Orchard Pig cider is not as benign as it sounds, and 2) Liquid Cheeks. And I’ll bet my pension (currently about £32 and a first edition Roald Dahl) that in 18 months time you’ll not need an explanation for the latter.

Time… enough. Attack ships on fire introduce the headline act for tonight, the Bristolian barrage of fun that are Lice. Well documented for bad time keeping and guttural prose, both attributes close to my heart, it is the band’s frontman that I’m most keen to see in full swing. But an army of low thumped drums, distorted feedback, and restrained punk pretensions (if such a thing can exist in the realms beyond oxymoron) are soon taking my eyes across the rough edged four piece. Frontman, Alistair Shuttleworth, who has set the stage for such anarchic atrocities as Fat White Family, owns the Sunday night dwindling crowd from the off – delivering his trademark prose in a way that makes me sit up straight yet miss every word. A linguistic trick I almost love and hate him for in the same short, sharp intake of breath.

But they are commanding, even to a room that seems half empty from the last time I stood in it (The Lizards, cider, downstairs bar, shit journalist…) and I am quickly moving my shoulders in that way a middle aged man does when he wants to let go. Lice last played in Birmingham “on this stage, almost exactly a year ago” as part of the Killer Wave all day August band Holiday event in 2017, and it’s good to see them headline after such a well earned 12 months.

Oddly, even incongruously (if I were a devotee of Paul Dacre) polite, each song gets a stomach propelled “thank you” as Lice blast though their short songs and punchy set – delivering a well meant audio assault that makes me want to invite them, and their backline, to my next birthday party. Superb, SUPERB FUCKING PERCUSSION. But jumping from the tirade of an angry child to the wisdom of someone with something to say, Lice live up to their hype – as the Joe Talbot endorsed ‘fuck you we don’t care’ send out a set that shows this band mean business. And, even somewhat perversely, I believe them. If my mum were here she would probably file for adoption.

Sunday gigs are hard to promote, Lord knows I know – having spent over a year of my life doing it week in week out. But Setting Son and RDE have delivered this end of the weekend ensemble with fine fettle, setting a backbone of local luminaries against a visiting headline act who well deserve the attention. And, wonderfully, there was a good crowd to receive it. Even if the previous 48 hours have left the room’s frontal cortex a little bereft… well, mine at least.

Ha, and now to write a review about it (my ‘get it down as soon as you get home’ policy). But beyond ‘research Whitelight’, ‘The Hungry Ghosts’ new stuff’, ‘buy The Lizards a drink’ and ‘see Lice play on their home turf’, the South Park back catalogue is about all I have left. I bet Burroughs never had this problem. Possibly a bad comparison. Now, where’s that corkscrew and laptop power cable gone…

Lice @ Hare & Hounds 12.08.18 / Paul Reynolds

For more on Lice, visit www.facebook.com/licebristol

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The Lizards – supporting Lice @ Hare & Hounds 12.08.18 / Paul Reynolds

For more on The Lizards, visit www.soundcloud.com/allyourfriendsarelizards

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The Hungry Ghosts – supporting Lice @ Hare & Hounds 12.08.18 / Paul Reynolds

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

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Whitelight – supporting Lice @ Hare & Hounds 12.08.18 / Paul Reynolds

For more on Whitelight, visit www.officialwhitelight.com

For more from Setting Son, including further event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.facebook.com/settingsonrecords

For more on the Hare & Hounds, including venue details and further event listings, visit www.hareandhoundskingsheath.co.uk

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NOT NORMAL – NOT OK is a campaign to encourage safety and respect within live music venues, and to combat the culture of sexual assault and aggression – from dance floor to dressing room.

To sign up to NOT NORMAL – NOT OK, click here. To know more about the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK sticker campaign, click here.

July 20, 2018

SINGLE: ‘Strangers’ – The Taboo Club 20.07.18

Words & live pics by Ed King

On Friday 20^th July, The Taboo Club release their debut single ‘Strangers’ – a taste of what’s to come, with their next track, ‘Bible John’, already earmarked for release in autumn this year. But first things first.

‘Strangers’ will be available for free download through the standard online steaming sites from Friday 20^th July, with some helpful signposts no doubt on the band’s social media. For more information direct from The Taboo Club just hop, skip and jump over to their Facebook page – click here.

The first track to come from this relatively new band (although each member has been playing in one guise or another for long enough for me to wince at the descriptive) ‘Strangers’ is as perfect an introduction to The Taboo Club as you could get. Having recently seen them pop their live cherry at The Dark Horse – supporting those glorious astral adventurers, The Mothers Earth Experiment – The Taboo Club are hard a little to surmise. But it’s my job to try, and by doing so I will be making a paint by numbers review of ‘Strangers’ itself. Right then, where to begin…

There’s a sax, which is awesome, and keys, which are both wonderfully used (not over) by Ben Oerton. Although this invites the lazy journalist jazz references to come spilling out when I’m not watching the keyboard.

But this is not jazz, even if it reminds me of ‘bourbon lit Harlem dive bars’; the overall ‘tapestry of genres’ from The Taboo Club is very much driven by guitar – a duel attack from Jack Ingaglia (rhythm) and Josh Rochelle-Bates (bass), reminding this writer of the Velvet Underground if they happened across Maceo Parker one night and took a shit load of mushrooms. Then, lurking behind some omnipresent red velvet curtains, is a steady kick drum, heartbeat, and teasing rim tap from Aiden Price – all led by Rob Lilley’s deep, brooding, and yet curiously comforting vocals.

‘Strangers’ works with these jigsaw pieces, creating a surprisingly short layer cake of crescendos; I say surprisingly short as you could quite easily, and happily, see this ensemble rise and freefall for a good 15minutes before pausing for breath. And no doubt, in the aforementioned New Your suburb, someone under some other name is doing just that.

Produced with aplomb by Ryan Pinson, ‘Strangers’ is a touch of red velvet class to come out of the Birmingham music scene – a true musical fusion without the hubris or hangover of years at the Conservatoire. But to be fair, any of The Taboo Club could well be classically trained – they just haven’t felt the need to tell us about it during the first round of drinks. And the second.

But they did have a few words to throw on the table, in a bold declaration from the ‘Strangers’ press statement, that explains: ‘The Taboo Club are entirely of their own, comprising of and expressing the values of its individual members to create something heart-breakingly cathartic’. And I couldn’t have put it better myself.

The Taboo Club release ‘Strangers’ on Friday 20^th July – available for free download through all the usual online steaming sites. For more on The Taboo Club, visit www.facebook.com/TheTabooClubUK

The Taboo Club Showcase Gig with Birmingham Review will be held at The Victoria on Saturday 29^th September. To find out more, and to be on the waiting list for when tickets are released, visit the Facebook Event Page by clicking here.

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NOT NORMAL – NOT OK is a campaign to encourage safety and respect within live music venues, and to combat the culture of sexual assault and aggression – from dance floor to dressing room.

To sign up to NOT NORMAL – NOT OK, click here. To know more about the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK sticker campaign, click here.

July 19, 2018

BREVIEW: The Mothers Earth Experiment @ The Dark Horse 13.07.18

Words & pics by Ed King

I never played at the Whisky a Go Go. I was never in the house band; I was never Morrison. As much I wanted to be, mine was another time, another room. Another stage. Mine was breakbeat, rave, and those pills that had nothing to do with weight loss.

But The Mothers Earth Experiment, tonight, they get close. Close enough for me to start my review with wishes and references. Close enough to make me walk out the door and leave everything behind. Close enough, and what are we if nothing but shallow dreams. But fuck me they rock.

First up tonight though, at this particularly generous free entry Friday night gig at The Dark Horse, is The Taboo Club – the new face of Rob Lilley and Josh Rochelle-Bates, now joined by Jack Ingaglia (guitar), Ben Oerton (sax/keys) and Aiden Price (drums).

Their first live gig together, there are some rehearsal room cobwebs being dusted down tonight, and by the time ‘Bible John’ comes tumbling off stage, led by Lilley’s deep vocals, we are in a red room of sultry intent. Nestled somewhere between the low lit bourbon dive bars of Harlem and an opiate pit of six string destruction that would make the Velvet Underground blush, The Taboo Club are tapestry of genres and influences – driven by guitar, but with tinges of jazz, sax, and keys, giving the wall of sound a deep lustre.

Absurdly promising, even if I am a little biased. The Taboo Club play the next Birmingham Review showcase on Saturday September 29^th at The Victoria and we predict an interesting first time around the sun for this band – a tight ensemble with real depth. So stay alert, you listicles of music press future. More is sure to follow from The Taboo Club.

But back in the present, it’s time for Birmingham’s favourite space cadets to come in for landing. I’ve seen The Mothers Earth Experiment before, and they’re good. They’re tight. Polished psych rock. Musicians who know how to play, and who you get the feeling (I can only observe) really enjoy their time on stage together. At least I love watching their keyboard player.

But there’s something in their set tonight, and the front row, and the bass, and the shoulders that sway in that Nico kinda way. There’s something more. I’m engaged in a different way than before; perhaps it’s the blues rock, for whatever you or I make of that term. But it’s good, and a little ferocious. Two words I’m confident we all understand.

Frontman Mark Roberts pulls his face and eyes out over the crowd, as the band open with ‘Cool Down Mama’ and work backwards through their debut album. The combined exuberance of this six piece, who are probably classically trained (I have no idea but it feels like they could, or should, be) with high ideas and the balls to bring them to life, is unassailable.

I’m a little drunk and lazy as I write this (I recently adopted the stance of penning each review as soon as I get back. You know, whilst it’s ‘still fresh’. The photos on the other hand…) but I have an overwhelming urge to run across the bonnets of parked cars, or laugh. Or actually enjoy myself in public. There’s a deeper edge to The Mothers Earth Experiment tonight that I’m not erudite (sober) enough right now to adequately describe, but it keeps me in the crowd with a half jealous fix on stage. The man next to me agrees. We stop talking and watch. And dance, when the moments of tight self-control allow us.

Donald Trump would not agree. His name is mentioned more than a few times tonight, and not with compassion or without candour. But let’s face it, as we laugh at doom and the absurdity of such a close nuclear winter, the man is indeed “a cunt”. But with balloons and battle cries constantly thrown off stage we are unified at The Dark Horse tonight, on the very day that such monstrosity prepares themselves for dinner with the divine right of kings. And in a further act of general good will, The Mothers Earth Experiment have been passing out NOT NORMAL – NO OK stickers until in the room is adorned with specs of yellow and black. A wonderful sight to see; bless everyone one stage and off. Click here for more on the NOT NORMAL – NO OK campaign.

But we’re nearing the end, my only friend, and the The Mothers Earth Experiment say sayonara with a new track before heading back to the cosmos – ‘Bliss’, which builds, folds, unfolds, and explodes off stage like a grenade wrapped in a cloud. Bliss… For Spaceman 3 playing ‘Revolution’ on a particularly angry day perhaps; the shift from sweet jangles to sonic assault is almost rude… and so much fun. A startling denouement. No encore needed. Although The Mothers Earth Experiment had one planned, as the track listing I stole (it’s usually a journalist) told me was ‘Fortress’.

The rest of my night ends with random friends, strange new faces, stories of pet executions (lack of funds… ouch, you’ve got to love the fluctuating moral compass) and that unpleasant edge in Moseley I’m old enough to reference. Fuck you, I remember when this was all fields…

The Mother’s Earth Experiment at The Dark House, we give you four out of five stars, No one gets five. And I’m sure the letter you send home about this will be the talk of your family Christmas mailout. But I loved it; a great gig. And one that didn’t cost us a bean too.

So to the people of planet Earth, go out and purchase everything on The Mothers Earth Experiment merch stand and keep the world replete with good music. Also, keep Saturday September 29th free for The Taboo Club Showcase Gig with Birmingham Review at The Victoria. That is the judgement of music journalism. It has spoken. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. And considering tonight was a free entry gig, with copies of The Mothers Earth Experiment’s eponymous album being given away, I’d say it’s the very least we can do.

For more on The Mothers Earth Experiment, visit www.themothersearthexperiment.wordpress.com

For more on The Taboo Club, visit www.facebook.com/TheTabooClubUK

For more from Sonic Gun, including further event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.facebook.com/sonicgunconcerts

For more on The Dark Horse, including venue details and further event listings, visit www.darkhorsemoseley.co.uk

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NOT NORMAL – NOT OK is a campaign to encourage safety and respect within live music venues, and to combat the culture of sexual assault and aggression – from dance floor to dressing room.

To sign up to NOT NORMAL – NOT OK, click here. To know more about the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK sticker campaign, click here.

July 12, 2018July 12, 2018

BPREVIEW: The Mothers Earth Experiment @ The Dark Horse 13.07.18

Words by Ed King

On Friday 13^th July, The Mothers Earth Experiment play a free entry gig at The Dark Horse in Moseley – with support from The Taboo Club.

Doors open upstairs at ‘the horse’ from 8pm, with tickets costing NOTHING AT ALL YOU LUCKY MUSIC LOVING BAST*RDS – as presented by Sonic Gun. For direct information, visit the Facebook Event Page by clicking here.

They say Friday 13^th is an auspicious day (“they talk a lot, don’t they…”) and The Mothers Earth Experiment are channelling whatever from wherever to feed the collective unconscious with some musical manna this weekend.

Always worth a stop, look and listen, The Mothers Earth Experiment have been pumping out their jazz, funk, and lava lamp tinged psych rock for a handful of years now. One of the more musically proficient bands we’ve come across on Brum’s live circuit, The Mothers Earth Experiment are a tight and intelligent six piece delivering ‘detailed sonic tapestries of dense psychedelic atmospheres and emotive melodies’ with a social-political message never too far behind. Committed to the cause of music. Plus, they’re lovely people. And the world needs lovely people.

But this weekend, The Mothers Earth Experiment are being extra good to us all. First up, they’re throwing a free gig. So no bank balances will suffer if you want to go out and get your psych rock wiggle on this weekend. Bless you gents.

Second up, The Mothers Earth Experiment are gifting ten free copies of their debut album as part of the promo for the gig – leaving a round of drinks and a lift home as the only acts of generosity left to give. To win a copy, all you’ve got to do is share their Facebook post about it – click here – and the winners will be announced via the band’s social media, with CDs ready for collection at The Dark Horse.

Sounds simple enough. But to celebrate the arrival of POTUS to the UK, The Mothers Earth Experience have tailored their competition to honour the illustrious floppy wig wearing war mongering celebrity obsessed egotistical megalomaniac. In the band’s own words:

‘And if you want a really big chance of winning something, remember I personally will buy something special for the person with the best plaque, t-shirt, sign etc that tells Donald Trump where to fucking go.’

The Mothers Earth Experiment were also quick to get behind the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK campaign, which got launched this week to ‘encourage safety and respect within live music venues, and to combat the culture of sexual assault and aggression – from dance floor to dressing room.’ In an act of on and off stage solidarity, the band will be handing out NOT NORMAL – NOT OK stickers at their gig on Friday 13^th July, asking people to wear one whilst at the venue and ‘show the perpetrators of sexual assault, violence, and misconduct that their actions will not be tolerated.’

“We at The Mothers Earth Experiment have been angered and horrified to hear of stories of sexual assault in the local scene. We’re getting behind the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK campaign to try and bring light to these horrific abuses of power – from danceflooor to dressing room. On Friday 13th July our gig coincides with Donald Trump arriving in the UK; a physical reminder that the very top echelons of society can still get away with “grabbing them by the pussy”.

We want to end this and although we may not be able to get Trump yet, we can sure as hell sort out our scene with enough support. So to all the people who have ever been taken advantage of, to all the people who have seen the other side of their friends, to all those who’ve been abused by someone with power over them, we can and will make a difference.”

Also appearing on the bill are The Taboo Club, the recently formed phoenix from the flames of the band Semantics – playing their first gig in their fresh new form. The Taboo Club has Joshua Rochelle-Bates and Rob Lilley at the helm, from the aforementioned, but also boasts an eclectic line up of solid sounds and musicians from across the musical spectrum – expect guitar, bass, sax, keys, and soaring walls of sonic bliss from a deluge of influences. But here a quick hello from the band themselves:

“The Taboo Club have a lot of respect for The Mothers Earth Experiment, having known them on the local circuit for some time now, and we couldn’t think of anyone more fitting to support for our first gig. It’s really exciting to be playing live after having worked so hard as a new band.

We can’t wait for people to hear The Taboo Club too. It’s an ensemble of expressive and tight musicians playing amalgamations of different genres – songs that command attention but welcome intimacy. The sound is informed and shaped by our individual contributions, but with a jazz chemistry and other familiar yet strange things.”

It’s pretty stuff awesome too. Birmingham Review was privy to some rehearsals and we liked it so much we’ve booked The Taboo Club to play our next showcase gig – held at The Victoria on Saturday 29th September.

Tickets for The Taboo Club Showcase Gig with Birmingham Review are not on sale yet, but we’ve had a fair few people ask for reserves already (honestly, just shy of a quarter of the room so far) so jump over to the Facebook Event Page and stick your hand in the air.

Meanwhile, back in a warm and fuzzy corner of space somewhere near the third rock from the sun…

‘Cool Down Mama’ – The Mothers Earth Experiment

The Mothers Earth Experiment play a free gig at The Dark Horse on Friday 13^th July, with support from The Taboo Club – as presented by Sonic Gun. For direct gig information, visit the Facebook Event Page by clicking here.

For more on The Mothers Earth Experiment, visit www.themothersearthexperiment.wordpress.com

For more on The Taboo Club, visit www.facebook.com/TheTabooClubUK

For more from Sonic Gun, including further event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.facebook.com/sonicgunconcerts

For more on The Dark Horse, including venue details and further event listings, visit www.darkhorsemoseley.co.uk

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NOT NORMAL – NOT OK is a campaign to encourage safety and respect within live music venues, and to combat the culture of sexual assault and aggression – from dance floor to dressing room.

To sign up and join the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK campaign, click here. To know more about the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK sticker campaign, click here.