INTERVIEW: Nick Ellis

INTERVIEW:

Nick Ellis

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IT has been wonderful finding out more about Nick Ellis…

and his new album, Speakers’ Corner. Ellis talks about the album’s themes and I ask what he thinks of our current government and what is happening in the country – he selects some albums that matter most to him and what sort of music he is inspired by.

Ellis reveals whether there will be gigs coming along and what he has planned for next year; what it is like getting plaudits from some big radio names; which rising artists we need to look out for and which musician he’d support live if given the chance – he ends the interview by selecting a great track.

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Hi, Nick. How are you? How has your week been?

I'm fine, thank you. So far, my week has been interesting, to say the least. 

For those new to your music; can you introduce yourself, please?

Yes, sure. My name is Nick Ellis. I live and work in Liverpool. I am a writer/songwriter who transcends stories, narratives and characterizations through an acoustic guitar, mainly. I use a finger-picking style that incorporates a method of rhythm and melody. 

 

Speakers’ Corner is your new album. What are the themes that inspired it?

Speakers' Corner has three main themes: engagement, communication and expression.

The album's theme and title was inspired by a local writer called Andrew Lucas who introduced me to the work of Liverpool sculptor, Arthur Dooley. Lucas showed me an old picture of an iron 'speakers' corner' that was designed and made by Dooley (and an architect called Jim Hunter), situated in Liverpool's Pier Head area. I'd forgotten all about this red, industrious landmark-esque podium and realised it had been removed without any one really noticing way back in 1993/1994.

Its erection was funded by the Trade and General Workers’ Union, back in 1973, for public use as a place for people to gather and share their thoughts, views and ideals. I was astonished that this 'place of gathering' had not been resurrected by the local council (as it was paid for by people's money, not theirs) after the area’s development - and thought that I’d bring it to people's attention…

So, I made an album about it. 

Do you take a lot of inspiration from modern politics and what is happening now? How do you see the state of politics in this country?!

I take inspiration from the reaction of people to modern politics, rather than the actual political options that are being presented. I find the processes, structures; approaches and choices that we are used to are no longer serving the needs of its people. It has been very inspiring to see the reaction of people, not just in this country but all over the world, to the changing tide of politics. It is no longer about what is blue or red, or right and left: it's about what is right and wrong.

The state of modern politics in this country has gone beyond satire. The people who are in government are extremely evil people, never mind incompetent - the way that the Grenfell Tower disaster was dealt with spelled this government's intentions out very clearly: 'We don't care'. And we are paying these people. It's obscene. But, what is worse is the fact that people vote for this kind of ideology. And that's just plain sadistic. 

Which artists did you grow up listening to? Was there one that compelled you to get into music?

Yes. Buddy Holly, Elvis and Pete Townshend. Their music, presence and energy made me want to do similar. On the writing side of things, I was moved by the work of Alan Bleasdale at a very early age. There was an emotional intensity that was threaded within his work, especially in Boys from the Blackstuff and G.B.H. 

 PHOTO CREDIT: Robin Clewley

You have gained applause from the likes of Bob Harris (BBC Radio 2) and Lauren Laverne (BBC Radio 6 Music). How does that make you feel?!

I appreciate the support from anyone who takes the time out to enlighten people with my music. I certainly don't get any ego boosts from it, though. Radio should be playing grassroots music, more. Otherwise, one day, hey...we might not exist. Bob was really friendly and accessible.

I emailed him various questions about some Folk players, like Nick Drake and Nic Jones - and he took the time out to share his thoughts and memories on those cats and was very articulate and encouraging about what I was doing. As regards to Lauren; I met her years ago and she knew her stuff and was very amiable. I don't know her or anything, though.  

What do you hope to achieve by the end of 2018?

I hope to begin recording the next album. 

Do you already have plans for 2019?

Yes. We plan to tour this album throughout spring and release another album in the autumn. 

Have you got a favourite memory from your time in music so far – the one that sticks in the mind?

Yes. I was very fortunate to meet and play with Johnny Echols, from the band Love, back in the summer of 2016. Jon was one of the most inspiring, kind and friendly souls I ever met in the music game. He took time out to answer all our questions about Love and shared a few secrets with us - about that band and time - that I swore I'd never share.

They say you should never meet your heroes, but Jon was beyond that. He was the embodiment of 'love' - a beautiful soul, spirit and mind. I always knew that band and its music were special and I was right. 

Which three albums mean the most to you would you say (and why)?

Love - Forever Changes

Because it does. There's nothing I’ve come across that says it all like that album. 

Jim Sullivan - U.F.O.

Because the mystery of that man's life is embedded in those songs. 

Davey Graham - Folk, Blues and Beyond

Because it combines mastery, mystery and folklore. What a combo, eh!  

PHOTO CREDIT: Robin Clewley

If you could support any musician alive today, and choose your own rider, what would that entail?

Bob Dylan. And a rider that consisted of the finest, purest Peruvian flake cocaine. Me and Bob would be whoopin' like Ric Flair well into the night. 

What advice would you give to new artists coming through?​

Get a decent job that pays well and gives you and your family security. There is no money in music...well, for those at the more challenging rung of the ladder, anyway. 

Do you have tour dates coming up? Where can we catch you play?

Next up is at The Harrison in London on Thursday, 29th November, 2018.  

Are there any new artists you recommend we check out?

Yes. Musicians Luca Nieri, R.W. Hedges and John Stammers from London. Writers Russ Litten (from Hull), Duncan Lyon and a spoken word artist called Roy (both Liverpool).

PHOTO CREDIT: Robin Clewley

Do you get much time to chill away from music? How do you unwind?

I go looking for trouble. 

Finally, and for being a good sport; you can choose a song and I’ll play it here (not any of your music - I will do that).

Luca Nieri - Hummingbird and R.W. Hedges - Signalman. Both are excellent.

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Follow Nick Ellis

Official:

http://mellowtonerecords.com/artists/nick-ellis

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Nick-Ellis-Music-133381333379089/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/nickellis_music

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nickellismusic/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4YsGMbC6ydAxsi8DKHCaZJ?si=6fiVP4qETVq6ltCxmqpU3g

FEATURE: Ending the Decade in Style: Part III/V: The Finest Albums of 1979

FEATURE:

 

 

Ending the Decade in Style

PHOTO CREDIT: @pear/Unsplash 

Part III/V: The Finest Albums of 1979

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THE reason I want to put together a new feature…

 PHOTO CREDIT: @koalamoose/Unsplash

is to shine a light on the albums that end a decade with a huge bang. I feel it is hard to define what a decade is about and how it evolves but the first and last years are crucial. Entering a decade with a big album is a great way to stand out and, similarly, ending it with something stunning is vital. It can be hard leaving a brilliant and bountiful decade of music but I wanted to shine a light on the artists who brought out albums that did justice; gave hope the next decade would be full, exciting and brilliant. I will do a five-part series about albums that opened a decade with panache but, right now, the third in a five-part feature that collates the best decade-enders from the 1960s, 1970s; 1980s, 1990s and the 2000s. I am focusing on 1979 and the best ten records from the year. The 1970s is often seen as the greatest decade for music and many feel the 1980s is the worst. 1979 was, for many, the last year for fantastic music and the glorious end of a huge decade. Here is a selection of ten albums that ended the 1970s...

 PHOTO CREDIT: @kxvn_lx/Unsplash

WITH huge style.

ALL ALBUM COVERS: Getty Images

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The Undertones – The Undertones

Release Date: 13th May, 1979

Labels: Sire; Aredeck-EMI; Rykodisc; Sanctuary Records (U.K. C.D. release).

Review:

“What is a perfect album? One could make an argument that a perfect album is one that sets out a specific set of artistic criteria and then fulfills them flawlessly. In that respect, and many others, the Undertones' 1979 debut is a perfect album. The Northern Ireland quintet's brief story is no different than that of literally dozens of other bands to form in the wake of the Clash and, more importantly, the Buzzcocks, but the group infuses so much unabashed joy in their two-minute three-chord pop songs, and there's so little pretension in their unapologetically teenage worldview, that even the darker hints of life in songs like the suicide-themed "Jimmy Jimmy" are delivered with a sense of optimism at odds with so many of their contemporaries. There's no fewer than three all-time punk-pop classics here; besides that song, the singles "Teenage Kicks" and "Get Over You" are simple declarations of teenage hormonal lust that somehow manage to be cute instead of Neanderthal; perhaps it's Feargal Sharkey's endearingly adenoidal whine, or the chipper way the O'Neill brothers pitch in on schoolboy harmonies, like a teenage Irish Kinks” – AllMusic   

Standout Track: Teenage Kicks

The Clash – London Calling

Release Date: 14th December, 1979

Labels: CBS; Epic

Review:

“London Calling certainly lives up to that challenge. With its grainy cover photo, its immediate, on-the-run sound, and songs that bristle with names and phrases from today’s headlines, it’s as topical as a broadside. But the album also claims to be no more than the latest battlefield in a war of rock & roll, culture and politics that’ll undoubtedly go on forever. “Revolution Rock,” the LP’s formal coda, celebrates the joys of this struggle as an eternal carnival. A spiraling organ weaves circles around Joe Strummer’s voice, while the horn section totters, sways and recovers like a drunken mariachi band. “This must be the way out,” Strummer calls over his shoulder, so full of glee at his own good luck that he can hardly believe it.” El Clash Combo,” he drawls like a proud father, coasting now, sure he’s made it home. “Weddings, parties, anything… And bongo jazz a specialty.”

But it’s Mick Jones who has the last word. “Train in Vain” arrives like an orphan in the wake of “Revolution Rock.” It’s not even listed on the label, and it sounds faint, almost overheard. Longing, tenderness and regret mingle in Jones’ voice as he tries to get across to his girl that losing her meant losing everything, yet he’s going to manage somehow” – Rolling Stone

Standout Track: London Calling

Donna Summer – Bad Girls

Release Date: 25th April, 1979

Label: Casablanca

Review:

“Producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte recognized that disco was going in different directions by the late '70s, and they gave the leadoff one-two punch of "Hot Stuff" and "Bad Girls" a rock edge derived from new wave. The two-LP set was divided into four musically consistent sides, with the rocksteady beat of the first side giving way to a more traditional disco sound on the second side, followed by a third side of ballads, and a fourth side with a more electronic, synthesizer-driven sound that recalled Summer's 1977 hit "I Feel Love." Though remembered for its hits, the album had depth and consistency, concluding with "Sunset People," one of Summer's best album-only tracks. The result was the artistic and commercial peak of her career and, arguably, of disco itself” – AllMusic

Standout Track: Hot Stuff                         

Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures

Release Date: 15th June, 1979

Label: Factory

Review:

“Then, after such an auspicious start, Closer really clicks into gear. "Means to an End" is death disco before the fact, buoyed by a surprisingly rousing (and wordless) chorus. "Heart and Soul" is a remarkable collision of atmosphere and minimalism, the stuttering drum beat, synth and Peter Hook's melodic bass lead linked to one of Curtis' most subdued performances. "Heart and soul," he sings, as the stark instruments intertwine and twist together. "One will burn."

"Twenty Four Hours" briefly tries to pry free from the album's looming inevitability before "The Eternal" and "Decades" draw the music back down and the listener back in to Curtis' world. "The Eternal" is the bleakest thing the band ever recorded, and if "Decades" comes off a relative respite in comparison, the lyrics quickly quash that idea. "We knocked on the doors of Hell's darker chamber," moans Curtis. "Pushed to the limit, we dragged ourselves in” - Pitchfork

Standout Track: New Dawn Fades

Pink Floyd – The Wall

Release Date: 30th November, 1979

Labels: Harvest; Columbia

Review:

“The album opens by welcoming the unwitting listener to Floyd's show ("In the Flesh?"), then turns back to childhood memories of his father's death in World War II ("Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 1"), his mother's over protectiveness ("Mother"), and his fascination with and fear of sex ("Young Lust"). By the time "Goodbye Cruel World" closes the first disc, the wall is built and Pink is trapped in the midst of a mental breakdown. On disc two, the gentle acoustic phrasings of "Is There Anybody Out There?" and the lilting orchestrations of "Nobody Home" reinforce Floyd's feeling of isolation. When his record company uses drugs to coax him to perform ("Comfortably Numb"), his onstage persona is transformed into a homophobic, race-baiting fascist ("In the Flesh"). In "The Trial," he mentally prosecutes himself, and the wall comes tumbling down. This ambitious concept album was an across-the-board smash, topping the Billboard album chart for 15 weeks in 1980. The single "Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2" was the country's best-seller for four weeks. The Wall spawned an elaborate stage show (so elaborate, in fact, that the band was able to bring it to only a few cities) and a full-length film. It also marked the last time Waters and Gilmour would work together as equal partners” – AllMusic

Standout Track: Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 1 

Fleetwood Mac – Tusk

Release Date: 12th October, 1979

Label: Warner Bros.

Review:

“It’s not hard to imagine the voice of Buckingham’s internal foil during these sessions, whispering seedily, naysaying each new melody, pushing for more: “This is fine, but it’s not Art.” I don’t know anyone who cares about making things who hasn’t at some point lobbed the exact same challenge at themselves: Can’t you do better? Hasn’t someone done this before? Haven’t you done this before? You get the sense of a broken-down person trying to rebuild himself. He is diligent about getting the architecture right.

All of which makes “I Know I’m Not Wrong”—the first song the band started recording for Tusk, and the last one to be finished – even more poignant. When Tusk was reissued, in 2015, the expanded release included six (!) different “I Know I’m Not Wrong” demos, all recorded by Buckingham in his home studio. The chorus is a declaration of intention, of confidence: “Don't blame me/Please be strong/I know I'm not wrong.” It’s not a thing a person gets to say very often. But Tusk isn’t a record that gets made more than once” – Pitchfork

Standout Track: Tusk

Michael Jackson – Off the Wall

Release Date: 10th August, 1979

Labels: Epic; CBS

Review:

“In collaborating with producer Quincy Jones, Off The Wall found Jackson using his newly found creative freedom by departing from his previous Motown sound, instead opting for an album that combined disco, soul, pop, soft rock and funk influences. Additional to Jones' polished, professional productions, Michael Jackson collaborated with some of the finest songwriters of the time, including Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder and Rod Temperton. As a result, Off The Wall became the first album ever to spawn four Billboard Top Ten singles: Don't Stop Til You Get Enough, Rock With You, Off The Wall and She's Out Of My Life.

Since it's release, Off The Wall has sold over fifteen million copies and many critics believe as an album it has not been bettered by any of Michael Jackson's subsequent output” – BBC

Standout Track: Don’t Stop 'Til You Get Enough

Talking Heads – Fear of Music

Release Date: 3rd August, 1979

Label: Sire

Review:

“Worked up from jams (though Byrne received sole songwriter's credit), the music is becoming denser and more driving, notably on the album's standout track, "Life During Wartime," with lyrics that match the music's power. "This ain't no party," declares Byrne, "this ain't no disco, this ain't no fooling around." The other key song, "Heaven," extends the dismissal Byrne had expressed for the U.S. in "The Big Country" to paradise itself: "Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens." It's also the album's most melodic song. Those are the highlights. What keeps Fear of Music from being as impressive an album as Talking Heads' first two is that much of it seems to repeat those earlier efforts, while the few newer elements seem so risky and exciting. It's an uneven, transitional album, though its better songs are as good as any Talking Heads ever did” – AllMusic

Standout Track: Animals

The Jam – Setting Sons

Release Date: 16th November, 1979

Label: Polydor

Review:

“The Jam's Setting Sons was originally planned as a concept album about three childhood friends who, upon meeting after some time apart, discover the different directions in which they've grown apart. Only about half of the songs ended up following the concept due to a rushed recording schedule, but where they do, Paul Weller vividly depicts British life, male relationships, and coming to terms with entry into adulthood. Weller's observations of society are more pointed and pessimistic than ever, but at the same time, he's employed stronger melodies with a slicker production and comparatively fuller arrangements, even using heavy orchestration for a reworked version of Bruce Foxton's "Smithers-Jones." Setting Sons often reaches brilliance and stands among the Jam's best albums, but the inclusion of a number of throwaways and knockoffs (especially the out-of-place cover of "Heat Wave" which closes the album) mars an otherwise perfect album” – AllMusic

Standout Track: The Eton Riffles                     

Blondie – Eat to the Beat

Release Date: October 1979

Label: Chrysalis

Review:

“Maybe this accounts for the stylistic ragbag that emerges. Eat To The Beat still bears the traces of the art punk roots that had given birth to them back in their CBGB's days in New York (on the title track, the manic Accidents Never Happen and Living In The Real World); but at times the album reads like a veritable history of chart styles: Here was their first proper foray into reggae with Die Young Stay Pretty, the Duane Eddy-at-the-disco grandeur of Atomic, the skittering, Spectorish pure pop of Dreaming and Union City Blue and the Motown stomp of Slow Motion. Sound-A-Sleep goes even further back into the kind of 50s dream pop that might feature in a David Lynch film. 

Americans, still hamstrung by the double-edged values of the late 60s, were always suspicious that a band first marketed as 'new wave' could be so mercenary and saw it as ersatz 'selling out', giving the album a lukewarm reception. Meanwhile in Europe their ability to soundtrack every great disco, wedding and barmitzvah was rightly valued. In the end, pop is pop and Blondie, at this point, were making the timeless variety that still sounds box fresh today” – BBC

Standout Track: Union City Blue

FEATURE: Spotlight: Loyle Carner

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

IN THIS PHOTO: Loyle Carner snapped for Interview in May 2017/PHOTO CREDIT: Matt Holyoak

Loyle Carner

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THERE are a few artists who get all the love…

IN THIS IMAGE: The cover for Loyle Carner’s 2017 album, Yesterday’s Gone/IMAGE CREDIT: Getty Images 

and seem to glide by without much trouble - and then there are those who have to fight a bit harder because their music means that much more. There was a lot of talk around Loyle Carner when his debut album, Yesterday’s Gone, arrived at the start of last year. I recall listening to the album when it came out and being blown away by the originality! There are British Hip-Hop and Rap artists who can move you and get the mind but none have the same personality and passion as Loyle Carner. It is something about his delivery and wordplay that is superior to the competition. One hears anger and determination but there is never needless aggression and boasting. The man has confidence and is slick with a rhyme but never boasts and shows off without being able to back it up. There is humbleness and modest that is hard to find in the genre and, unlike a lot of U.S. Hip-Hop artists, the subject matter is less about boasting and wealth and more concerned with the everyday lives and beat of the street. I think British Hip-Hop has always been second to that coming from America but with artists like Loyle Carner and Kate Tempest bringing their brand of poetry and passion to the party; we have some genuine competition for the giants of American Hip-Hop. Many have been asking whether there is going to be a follow-up to Yesterday’s Gone and what we might expect next year.

I guess two years is a little while when it comes to following up albums but Carner needs time to craft the material and get the feeling right. Benjamin Gerard Coyle-Larner (‘Loyle Carner’ is a spoonerism of his surname) is a Lambeth-born, Croydon-raised artist who was brought up by his mum, Jean, and stepdad (Nik) had minimal contact with his birth father growing up. Having been diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia as a child; Loyle Carner moved through the ranks and fought hard to get his voice out there. He studied at the Brit School and was enrolling in a Drama degree when his birth father died of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy. Carner decided to embark on a career in music and focused on that passion. A dedicated Liverpool F.C. supporter and someone who wears his heart on sleeve; you can hear Carner’s life and loves spill out in his music. He is enormously close to his mum and she has even been involved in his music/videos. Everything about Carner has that honesty and humbleness. He is close to family and where he grew up and has not forgotten his roots. Yesterday’s Gone is the distillation of his early life and his rise; everything that made him and what he wants to achieve. The album was nominated for a Mercury Prize in 2017 and lost out to Sampha’s Process.

I felt Loyle Carner should have won the award and boasts the stronger record. Whilst Process has soulfulness and is emotional stunning; Yesterday’s Gone has more variation and lasts longer in the mind! The way Carner rhymes and raps; what conversational style and stunning flow that brings the words to life and paints vivid pictures - there are few out there like him. A sophistication can be heard through every song and the lyrics really grab you. It is as though you are rolling with Carner and walking along with him. A lot of Hip-Hop artists can divide with their aggressiveness or what they are talking about – a grand or dangerous life – but Loyle Carner takes you into his world and, like a musical host, shows you every sight and sound. Reviews for Yesterday’s Gone were hugely impressive and effusive. The Guardian had this to say:

“It’s not all heavy going. Carner worries about girls too, and text messages (+44). Another interlude, Rebel 101, finds him being ordered to “eat bad food and party” by producer Rebel Kleff. But instead of posturing then landing a couple of blows to the soft tissue, Carner’s scuffed, wry flows grab you by the feels from the get-go and do not relinquish their grip. All of his candid songs so far have built up a picture of a thoughtful young man rejected by his biological father, sustained by his family, propelled forward by his ADHD diagnosis (he has set up a cookery programme for others with the condition, Chili Con Carner)...

On Florence, he imagines cooking pancakes for an imaginary little sister; Kwes sings the hook. The death of his beloved stepfather in 2014 prompted Carner to give up a place at the Brit School studying drama to take his place as a breadwinner. In this sense he’s a hustler, parlaying his biography into pounds and pence”.

NME approached the L.P. from another angle:

“On ‘Yesterday’s Gone’ US rap’s trademark arrogance 
is replaced by unabashed sensitivity and some serious emotional openness. If it seems like you’re listening to Coyle-Larner reading out his diary when you listen, well, that’s because you kind of are. This is music as catharsis, with much of the sonically laid-back album dealing with family, loss and friendship, over lived-in J Dilla and Tribe Called Quest-worthy beats. But that’s not to say that there aren’t some significant bangers in the mix. As epic album openers go, ‘The Isle Of Arran’ is way up there. A glorious gospel choir sample and a warm old-school soul sound both 
play out behind Coyle-Larner’s effortless flow, as he serves up a heartrending study of grief and a family in turmoil, like Kanye West had he watched one too many episodes of EastEnders”.

It is interesting listening to The Isle of Arran and hearing all those layers and brilliant moments. Few Hip-Hop artists can deal with family heartache and pains and make it sound so beautiful and dramatic. It is a wonderful opening and gives you everything you need to know about Loyle Carner!

Collaborations with Tom Misch (Damselfly) and Kwes. (Florence) show he can bring others into the mix without stealing focus or letting them having too much of a say. The collaborators on the album – Rebel Kleff is amazing on NO CD and No Worries – are brilliant and give Yesterday’s Gone and more rounded and community feel. It is unsurprising someone who is close to family and has that sensitivity would bring friends and allies to the record. What shines above everything else is the variation and lyrical prowess. NO CD is a swaggering, confident song that, yes, is actually does name-check C.D.s! Yesterday’s Gone is perfectly weighted so you have two incredible tracks leading and we finish with the title-track. There are fifteen tracks (on the album) but it never sounds too long and there are no fillers. The songs have their identity but hang together as a cohesive and deeply personal statement. By the end of proceedings, you get to know about Loyle Carner, his family and where he comes from – and where he intends to go. Ain’t Nothing Changed is my favourite because not only are there incredible lyrics and a powerful lead vocal but the composition is fantastic. Smooth and caramel horns run throughout and beautifully bring the song to land. I have put a couple of reviews in and, by the end of 2017; Yesterday’s Gone was in most critics’ top-ten list. An award-nominated album that got under the skin and announced this incredible talent; we were seeing this confident and confessional songwriter show his heart and soul with every line.

There were, of course, gigs and appearance after the album and Loyle Carner has been busy since January 2017. The new single, Ottolenghi, joins Carner with Jordan Rakei and, again, it is a perfect combination. I feel the lyrics of Ottolenghi are among the strongest he has ever produced and one of the most immersive stories. We hear about our hero on the train and the rain coming down; children wondering if the sun will ever come and an potentially edgy situation stemming from a misunderstanding – “They ask about the Bible I was reading/Told them that the title was misleading/Labelled it Jerusalem/but really it's for cooking Middle Eastern”. You get the image of Carner reading this cooking book – where the title of the song stems from – and people thinking he was reading something provocative and controversial. The track is about the twenty-four-year-old knowing it is easy to go back and feel lost and he looks forward and wonder whether he’ll ever raise a child. It is the Hip-Hop poet assessing life and taking stock of everything that has unfolded. This makes me wonder whether we will see another Loyle Carner album next year. The intent and drive is there and fans of Yesterday’s Gone will be intrigued to see where he goes and what comes next. His debut was about the path he has walked and his family; the mix of heartache and strength and living in a complicated world.

Given what has happened in the country – from Brexit to the Grenfell tragedy – it might give Carner impetus for songs and, whatever he comes up with, it is going to be a hotly-anticipated album. There are some promising British Hip-Hop artists around right now, including Not3s and Lady Leshurr, but there is something about Loyle Carner that stands him aside from the pack. Maybe it is the confessional style of the lyrics and the accessibility of the music that means it is easier to get involved with and suitable for all moods. I hear a lot of modern Hip-Hop and it intense a lot of the time and accusatory; it relies on phat beats and jagged electronics and does not really stretch the palette. Carner can bring in Jazz elements and homemade beats; something D.I.Y. with soothing, grand swells that give the songs fresh dimensions and nuances. This is the reason Yesterday’s Gone was taken to heart and received such praise. Loyle Carner is still, in my mind, the leader of British Hip-Hop and it is quite a lot to put on his shoulder! I am excited to see where he steps next and what his next album contains. Music needs someone like him: a truth-telling and popular artist who can unite cutting realities with poetic and elegant thoughts. On Ain’t Nothing Changed; Carner confesses that he’s “just another number”. When you look at all he has achieved and what he gives to music that assessment could not be...

 IN THIS PHOTO: Loyle Carner snapped for Interview in May 2017/PHOTO CREDIT: Matt Holyoak

FURTHER from the truth.   

INTERVIEW: Brian Falduto

INTERVIEW:

Brian Falduto

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THE amazing Brian Falduto…

has been telling me about his new album, Stage Two, and its origins; what inspired the songs and what sort of music he is inspired by – Falduto talks about his work as an L.G.B.T.Q. Advocate and a Life Coach.  

I ask the American artist about his acting work in School of Rock and which albums are important to him; if there are any gigs coming up and which musician he’d support if he had a choice – he ends the interview by selecting a cool track.

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Hi, Brian. How are you? How has your week been?

Hey! My week has been fine. Thank you for asking. We released my album on Friday so it’s been a fun first few days having the project out there.

For those new to your music; can you introduce yourself, please?

My name is Brian Falduto. I’m an artist; I seek connection and tell stories through songwriting and acting. I also share in the stories of other people through my work as both an L.G.B.T.Q. Advocate and a Life Coach.

 

I am interested in your single, Rainy Day. Is there a story behind it?

There’s definitely a story behind it, though, not one I’m very proud of. Without getting too specific, it’s about someone I was in involved with during my time in L.A. The song calls him out on a lot of what he was putting me through at the time: emotional abuse, infidelity and just a general degradation of my self-worth.

But, the song is less about him and more about what I allowed myself to get involved in. It’s me taking ownership of my role in creating that toxic situation. I had many chances to walk away but I chose to keep putting it off for a ‘Rainy Day’ – and, as we all know, it doesn’t rain often in L.A. It’s kind of like the gay version of Stay by Sugarland.

I believe your new album, Stage Two, has psychological derivations. Can you explain the concepts behind the record?

Situations like the story behind Rainy Day and other tracks on this album are very reflective of a time in the development of a gay man’s life that has been termed by psychologist Alan Downs as ‘Stage Two’ in his book, The Velvet Rage. I’ve named the record after his research in the hopes of directing people to his book as I feel it contains some essential findings on the self-esteem issues that gay men face following a life in the closet and how those issues manifest themselves in relationship decisions made after coming out.

What was it like putting the album together? Did you learn a lot about yourself making it?

The album is something I’m proud of for the very simple fact that, by creating it, I’ve counteracted every habitual mentality that’s been forming inside my mind for my entire life. I double-majored in college because I was too afraid of failure - and being a Performance major was too risky a venture for me without a back-up plan. I convinced myself that I enjoyed a full-time job working in radio promotions (even though I was miserable) because I was afraid I wouldn’t be successful otherwise. I got really bad at ‘acting’ for a while because I put too much pressure on myself to be ‘good’ and I lost the enjoyment of working on my craft.

This project took a lot of time, effort and money. Once I started, I never looked back. I had to make a lot of creative decisions on the spot and I had to trust my gut. I had to believe in myself and know that I am good enough. I didn’t leave myself a back-up plan or a way out. I proved a lot to myself by completing this project and I can happily say I broke some habits and overcame some obstacles along the way. It was a growing experience for me.

Did you grow up in a musical family? Which artists did you discover at a young age?

No one in my family is musical. Much like many young gay boys, I quickly fell in love with an array of female artists: Aretha Franklin, Celine Dion; Faith Hill, Michelle Branch; Hilary Duff...and eventually Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood. My mom instilled a young love of Barry Manilow in me and my dad dropped some Goo Goo Dolls, James Taylor and Aerosmith into my life. My brother was a big fan of Alternative-Rock: Secondhand Serenade, All-American Rejects; The Last Goodnight.

I’ve been obsessed with musical theatre since seeing Wicked in 2003 and, in high-school; I discovered a love for Country music after hearing the song Chicken Fried by Zac Brown Band (which is still my ring-back tone, by the way). I’ve always been a bit all over the place and still am.

How does your acting work, and your role in School of Rock, link with your music?

Well, as far as School of Rock goes, I’m honored to be circumstantially a part of a film that has not only inspired thousands of kids to pick up instruments and try their hand at musicianship but it’s also inspired a worldwide movement in the form of television shows, movies and even educational institutions dedicated to continually keeping the message of the movie alive: Stick it to the man. You are cool enough. Music’s not about being perfect: it’s about thinking outside the box. Follow your dreams.

I guess you could say that, with my album, I’ve finally caught a little bit of the inspirational impact I had a hand in creating fifteen years ago.

What do you hope to achieve by the end of 2018?

I’m currently trying to mobilize myself back to L.A. for the winter so that I can do Pilot Season out there again. I’ll probably play a few more shows on the East Coast before I head out and, of course, finish up the album promotion.

Do you already have plans for 2019?

Acting is a big goal for 2019. I truly feel like I’m at an incomparable point in my work and I want to bring myself to some roles in the New Year and tell stories that way again. 

Have you got a favourite memory from your time in music so far – the one that sticks in the mind?

The story that seems to come to mind involves my grandma. She’s always been my biggest fan and my best friend. She’d never missed a performance of mine for my entire life but, unfortunately, in her old age, dementia overtook her and she was forced to go into assisted living. Understandably, she couldn’t make it out to support me anymore and this was very sad for her. So, we brought the show to her! A few members of the band and I loaded our equipment and instruments out to New Jersey and performed for her entire facility.

Seeing her face that day was my favorite memory of my time in music so far. Getting to give back like that to the only person who I can honestly say has never stopped believing in me is something I will treasure forever. She passed about a year ago and I perform at nursing homes as often as I can in her memory.

Which three albums mean the most to you would you say (and why)?

Stronger - Kelly Clarkson

You can laugh if you’d like but I really feel like she does a brilliant job at capturing a wide range of potential heartbreak scenarios and delivering them with a power and a punch that lets you know you’re going to be just fine. Every single track on this album has been an anthem for me through one break-up or another and I’m very grateful for it.

Live at The Troubadour - Carole King, James Taylor (live)

Carole King is the songwriting QUEEN, as far as I am concerned. She blends such universal truths into her melodies. I love this live album because it’s just her and James Taylor trading hits and sharing stories and just being so candid and honest. It’s a beautiful, relaxing listen.

Pioneer – The Band Perry

I think this album is a great example of the type of work I hope to be known for. It’s a collection of Pop-Country tracks with catchy melodies and crafty lyrics that all dramatize very relatable experiences. There’s a large variety of sounds and instrumentation on the record; I think it’s a great mix of strong musicality and strategic hit making.

If you could support any musician alive today, and choose your own rider, what would that entail?

Matt Alber. If you don’t know him, he’s amazing. He’s one of my favorite artists to just put on shuffle and never press pause or skip. And his work in the L.G.B.T.Q. community is very inspiring to me. I think I could learn a lot from him.

I always have a little bit of whiskey before I perform, so that would definitely be on my rider. Also; lots of water. I love water…but whiskey first. I don’t always eat a lot before I go on stage because I hate feeling bloated and tired up there, so maybe some French fries waiting for me when I get back to my dressing room?

I guess, if I ever got big enough to make diva requests, I’d request that all the weird, little things I carry in my bag every day be provided for me: a lint roller, a notepad; hand sanitizer, ChapStick; a highlighter, a pencil; Advil, gum; my phone charger and whatever book I’m reading.

What advice would you give to new artists coming through?

The filmmaker Roger Corman once said “Just be a craftsman”. Meaning: Just do the work. Just keep showing up and doing what you gotta do to improve and learn and grow. He continued: “...And every now and then, you might do something that is actually art”.

 You’re not an artist because you make something and then culture deems that thing artistic. Actually, what makes something artistic is when you’re able to see the world unlike how most of culture sees it. I often remind myself that Vincent Van Gogh never had a single buyer in his entire life; yet he created masterpiece after masterpiece. We can’t look to others to validate what we are doing. Find something that fulfills you and do it.

Do you have tour dates coming up? Where can we catch you play?

Currently planning some shows! Follow me on Instagram (@brianfalduto) for the deets!

 IN THIS PHOTO: Elizabeth Wyld/PHOTO CREDIT: Rosie Cohe Photography 

Are there any new artists you recommend we check out?

Elizabeth Wyld. She’s fantastic and I had the pleasure of collaborating with her recently. I dare you to not love her song Strange Love on Spotify.

Do you get much time to chill away from music? How do you unwind?

I do! I’m a Life Coach and one of my primary goals is to encourage my clients to develop a healthy relationship with themselves. For me, chill time is essential for that - especially as an artist in New York City. Ninety-percent of your energy here goes into surviving and keeping any sense of mindfulness about you. We live in the busiest city in the world.

I treasure any down time that I am able to carve out for myself and be present with myself and my thoughts; the end goal being to set aside enough time to eventually get connected with my feelings enough to write some music.

Finally, and for being a good sport; you can choose a song and I’ll play it here (not any of your music - I will do that).

Currently, I’m listening to Miss Me More by Kelsea Ballerini a lot. I kinda wish I wrote it!

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Follow Brian Falduto

Official:

https://brianfalduto.com/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/brianfalduto/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/BrianFalduto

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/brianfalduto/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0K43uL5uJQWsN6DFzOFhiG

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqCQIb_oJVv1cQr8YLRpvyA/featured

INTERVIEW: Evan Myall

INTERVIEW:

Evan Myall

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CHEERS to Evan Myall…

for telling me about his new single, Frances, and what we can expect from his upcoming (out on 16th November) album, Basic Gardening. He reveals his musical tastes and some albums important to him; a few rising musicians we need to get behind and how life as a solo artist differs from his time in bands.

The songwriter discusses his plans and tells me what he does outside of music; whether he grew up around a lot of music and whether there are things he wants to achieve before the end of the year – he selects a great track to end the interview with.

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Hi, Evan. How are you? How has your week been?

I’m hangin’ tough! It’s been a mellow week (smiles).

For those new to your music; can you introduce yourself, please?

I’m Evan. ‘Myall’ is my middle name. I’m a guitar player and songwriter from Northern California.

Frances is your new single. Is there a tale behind it?

Frances is a thinly-veiled love song. I wanted to stray away from lyrics that were too cryptic or mysterious. “I love you. We can do anything. This is why…”

It is from the upcoming E.P., Basic Gardening. What sort of stories and ideas influenced the songs?

Each song has its own tale. The lyrics document the human experience in the face of...desire, heartbreak; alienation and the feelings surrounding an impending doom. We’re all in this (life) together. Divisiveness isn’t helping anyone.

Is it just yourself on the songs or are you working with other musicians?

Bobby Renz produced the record and played all over it. Owen Kelley played bass, guitar and piano on a few tracks. Hannah Moriah sang on a couple tunes. Tyler Green played guitar on one song. Couldn’t have done it without these unbearably talented friends.

I know you have worked in other projects/bands. How does life on your own differ in terms of discipline and the type of songs you are writing?

Yeah. For better or for worse, I’m writing all these songs from start to finish without any help. The collaboration part happens at the studio and within the production/recording process. But, I’m piecing the structure, melodies and lyrics together on my own. I don’t have anyone to lean on! It’s a challenge…in a good way.

Did you grow up around a lot of music? Which artists did you follow at a young age?

My first concert was at a stadium in Columbia, Maryland for Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill tour. That was awesome. I had so many different phases…both good and bad. Slash’s Snakepit. MxPx. Jay-Z. 311. The list is endless. It wasn’t until I was sixteen and bought a Velvet Underground C.D. that I felt like I had found my calling and was mostly on the right track.

What do you hope to achieve by the end of 2018?

Put out the Basic Gardening album digitally (it comes out 16th November).

Do you already have plans for 2019?

One of my oldest friends is helping me put out the record on vinyl which is so cool and nice of him! I hope people will buy some copies so I can pay him back. I’m going to play more solo Ev gigs with a band.

Have you got a favourite memory from your time in music so far – the one that sticks in the mind?

Playing Mexico in front of 10,000-plus kids with Sleepy Sun supporting Arctic Monkeys was a big one. I’m so grateful for all the musical experiences I’ve had. I wouldn’t trade them for anything.

Which three albums mean the most to you would you say (and why)?

The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground & Nico

Neil Young – Everybody Knows This is Nowhere

Evan Myall – Basic Gardening

V.U. and Neil because they’re my heroes and Basic Gardening because it’s my first solo record and I love it.

Do you get much time to chill away from music? How do you unwind?

Nah. Walk w/Wendy (my dog).

If you could support any musician alive today, and choose your own rider, what would that entail?

Neil Young. Lots of water.

What advice would you give to new artists coming through?

Have fun!

 IN THIS PHOTO: Aerial East

Are there any new artists you recommend we check out?

Aerial East; Spellling; Michael Nau and Cut Worms.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Michael Nau/PHOTO CREDIT: William Alexander Brown

Do you have tour dates coming up? Where can we catch you play?

I’m playing at Café Du Nord in San Francisco on December 22nd to celebrate this release.

Finally, and for being a good sport; you can choose a song and I’ll play it here (not any of your music - I will do that).

Power Trip - Soul Sacrifice

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Follow Evan Myall

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/evanmyall/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/MyallEvan

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/evanmyall/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1Rn4yROJnb8Jju7FZmS81b?si=3nr-nSGtQ6Cn5yJR7x-jog

SoundCloud:

https://soundcloud.com/evan-reiss-1

Bandcamp:

https://evanmyall.bandcamp.com/releases

FEATURE: The November Playlist: Vol. 2: Julia

FEATURE:

 

The November Playlist

IN THIS PHOTO: Julia Jacklin 

Vol. 2: Julia

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IT is a good week for music…

 IN THIS PHOTO: The Good, the Bad & the Queen

and the fiftieth anniversary of The Beatles’ eponymous album has been marked by stunning releases that collate demos, outtakes and the original songs in a new and shiny package. One of the standouts from The Beatles, Julia, is in my mind and connects me with a great new track from Julia Jacklin. I have included a track from The Beatles alongside Jacklin’s latest single and there are fresh offerings from Billie Marten, Muse and The Good, the Bad & the Queen; sizzling cuts from The Orielles and Drenge and something a bit calmer from Fleet Foxes. It is an amazing and varied week for new music that shows true quality and impact. In this rather uncertain and moody weather; have a seat and put on this week’s cracking new songs and let them…

IN THIS PHOTO: The Orielles/PHOTO CREDIT: Neelam Khan Vela

WORK their magic.

ALL PHOTOS/IMAGES (unless credited otherwise): Getty Images/Artists

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PHOTO CREDIT: Nick Mckk 

Julia Jacklin - Head Alone

The Good, the Bad & the Queen – Gun to the Head

The Orielles – Bobbi’s Second World

Billie Marten – Blue Sea, Red Sea

Drenge – Bonfire of the City Boys

Iceage – Balm of Gilead

Anderson .Paak – Who R U?

Cheryl – Love Made Me Do It

Ella Vos – Cast Away

PHOTO CREDIT: Daniel Alexander Harris

Fickle Friends – Broken Sleep

Ice Cube – Arrest the President

Benjamin Francis Leftwich – Gratitude

Jennifer Lopez (ft. Bad Bunny) – Te Guste

Little Mix – Told You So

Sasha Sloan – Older

PHOTO CREDIT: Apple Corps Ltd

The Beatles – The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill (2018 Mix)

Chelsea Cutler – Mess

Muse – Get Up and Fight

Lil Peep – Sex with My Ex

PHOTO CREDIT: Harley Weir

These New Puritans – Into the Fire

Ariana Grande – thank u, next

Conor Oberst – No One Changes 

Foster the People – Worst Nites

The Wombats – Oceans

Fleet Foxes – In the Hot Hot Rays

Poppy Ajudha – When You Watch Me

TOUTS – Rip It Off Me

PHOTO CREDIT: Linda Strawberry

The Smashing Pumpkins – Knights of Malta

PHOTO CREDIT: Lottie Turner

IDER – Mirror

Gengahr – Atlas Please

PHOTO CREDIT: Melissa Gamache

Emilie Kahn – Island 

Cherry Glazerr - Daddi

PHOTO CREDIT: Warwick Baker

Laura Jean - Devotion

Kash Doll – Ice Me Out

TRACK REVIEW: Billie Marten - Blue Sea, Red Sea

TRACK REVIEW:

 

Billie Marten

Blue Sea, Red Sea

9.6/10

The track, Blue Sea, Red Sea, is available via:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWgwXocHh1w

GENRES:

Folk; Singer-Songwriter

ORIGIN:

Yorkshire, U.K.

RELEASE DATE:

6th November, 2018

_________

IT has been a while since I last reviewed Billie Marten…

with a deep and curious pen! Isabella Tweddle (Billie Marten) is back with new material and, ahead of her second album, it gives me the chance to compare and contrast. The last time I gave her a proper investigation was about a year ago and, in her world, a lot has changed. I will talk about development and maturity; the nature of the sound she produces; how colours seem to be pivotal in terms of emotional expression; Folk and how she still leads young singer-songwriters; how emotional revelation and honesty can bond songwriter with performer; a bit about Marten’s future and how her style of music is a beautiful contrast to what is out there. One will forgive any sloppy errors in this review as I am currently suffering from sore muscles...or something like that. My rib cage is aching and it is hard to bend at the moment; like I have been given a good beating but have, in fact, been sitting down a lot. I cannot blame old age (…as I am thirty-five) or anything ‘naughty’. It is a bit of a mystery but, luckily, Billie Marten’s music is providing balm and comfort. There is a lot of great music out there in the world and, more and more, artists are competing against a packed environment; doing everything they can to get ahead and get their music noticed. There are many things to love about Billie Marten – I shall bring more of them in later. I was one of the first to get to Writing of Blues and Yellows (I make it sound like I was the first cop on the scene of an R.T.C.) and marvel at its profound beauty and maturity. The then-school-age Marten had released this album into the world without trumpeting, the carnival of modern promotion and any sort of ego. This was a strikingly talented, if modest and shy, young artist who had collected together original songs (bar one cover right at the end) and, yeah, that was it. Such a lack of fuss and hoopla might have been a dangerous move in 2016 but, wonderfully, it harked back to what music should be about: an artist going in with a proper album of brilliant music without the need to rinse it through the digital wringer!

What I loved about the album – and was keen to highlight in my review – was the sheer grace and beauty of Marten’s voice. One could hear little elements of other singers but, largely, it was the Yorkshire-based songwriter being pure to who she was. Tracks like Emily and Heavy Weather are, remarkably, still in my head and I cannot get over the rousing beats of Green; the images one provokes when listening to Teeth (Marten, one suspects, pouring her heart out on the piano in a quiet room) and the fabulous little oddities about the album – I think, at one stage, one can hear her dad mowing the lawn in the background! Marten’s music, like my writing to an extent, rewards those with patience and the desire to listen to music without skipping and being distracted. I was appalled critics did not place Writing of Blues and Yellows in their end-of-year top-fifty countdown. Some pretty crap albums made some lists – whatever tat Robbie Williams had that year broke The Sun’s top-fifty! – but I did not see Marten’s name come up! It was a shame and I wonder why that is (she did not make the lists). She was, I think, sixteen at the time so maybe the naivety of youth was a consideration; the songs did not explode and pop the same way Beyoncé did on Lemonade. She was not a mainstream artist and there was not these endless promotional spots on T.V. and radio. What one got, instead, was a pure Folk/Singer-Songwriter album in the spirit of Nick Drake’s Bryter Later, John Martyn’s Solid Air or Joni Mitchell’s Blue. Marten, after the album was released, toured around the world and allowed the songs to resonate and romance. What has happened in the distance between the debut revelation and this modern day?! Well, in terms of sound, as I shall explore, there have been minor additions but that reliable Marten gold remains pure and bountiful as it did back in 2016. The biggest change, oddly, is the lack of radical change. I half-suspected a lack of widespread critical bosom would lead Marten into a dark corner: reinventing herself as an Electronic artist or producing the same sort commercial Pop one would get from Rita Ora or Dua Lipa or going a bit mental.

Typical of a woman who keeps her roots, family and musical ethics close to her soul and warm; her first ‘new’ single, Mice, arrived a few weeks back and, as I drew breath worrying she might have gone a bit Ora-ble and Pop-y; Marten, wonderfully, was the same girl we’d always known (a White Stripes pun/switch), albeit it one with a more matured voice and a new story to tell. Now, on Blue Sea, Red Sea, Marten has delivered another gem from the as-yet-untitled sophomore L.P. The teenager is someone whose music puts one in mind of classic songwriters and you can imagine her, in this digital age, writing music/lyrics on paper, reading an assortment of her favourite books and composing music, largely, the same way my idols like Kate Bush and Jeff Buckley would have done back in the day: some crutches of the studio but, true to them, the analogue warmth and something simpler. I would not have minded were Marten to go a bit Electronic – I think she could produce something akin to James Blake and be able to pull that off – but we might get something like that in her album. The most striking aspect of Marten, in 2018, is her artwork and looks. Writing of Blues and Yellows (and covers for singles from the album) were art pieces; beautifully designed images that had a romance, Parisian edge (strange, but I always think Marten would be happiest in a Paris apartment with art on the wall and a record player in the corner) and something striking. Promotional images of the songwriter saw that long blonde hair hang and a slightly shy, if intrigue, look present. It was a homely, modest and élégant teen who stuck out against many of her peers – who were flouting flesh, pouting and trying to thrust their image down the throat. The hair is still long and blonde but, with a little lick of rebellion, I notice a nose ring. The young woman we fell for on Bird (Writing of Blues and Yellows) seems different, physically, to the one we hear now. Not that Marten has gone full-bold and tattooed herself and shaved her head but it is a nice touch to show she is still the same person but there is something new. Similarly, promotional images for her singles Mice and Blue Sea, Red Sea, see water play a role. Mice’s cover is Marten in a lake with wet hair and a focused look; images around her latest cut see insects on her face and this rather alluring/haunted look (it truly does combine the two). Whilst we are not hearing a reinvention akin to David Bowie in the 1970s or Madonna in the 1990s; Marten has evolved in some areas and is, as you’d expect, reflecting who she is as a woman.

This visual and physical evolution does not, as I say, mean the music has compromised its ethnicity and dynamic. One listens to Blue Sea, Red Sea and trace a line to the debut-era Marten. What is most obvious about the music is the lack of change. That might sound contradictory but attention, a couple of years and an altered lifestyle/routine has not lead Marten down a wrong path. She is, as I imagined, a woman who still writes in her bedroom and loves curling in with a good book when the rain lashes against the window but there are touches here and there. For instance, as I shall explore more; the lyrics have kept the same narrative voice (in the sense that they are personal songs on a common theme) but her linguistic mindset has changed. It is hard to explain but there is something more striking and urgent about the words. On Writing of Blues and Yellows, there were tales of doomed heroines and something tragic but there was the poetry of weather and a lightness that suggested, when all the excrement hits the fan, the heroine could get out into the Yorkshire air and find sanctuary. Maybe she could be warmed by her mother’s embrace or, after all the emotion has come out, she could find some light. Not that there is fatalism in the modern work of Marten but the passing of time has not provided much relief and release for Marten. One might feel a raising profile and the relief of a well-received debut would have afforded her some happiness – and I know she is grounded and satisfied in life – but the writer is as raw and open as she was a couple of years ago. Water and other images make their way into the music more; there are slightly starker lines here and there but the same woman – slightly older but the same Billie Marten we love – is here.  

The biggest regret would have been for Marten to change who she is, musically, or let any sense of personal struggle affect her progression. I mention how her music is as honest as ever but she has added new elements into the work. I associate Writing of Blues and Yellows with the homemade sound, a sparseness; a combination of piano, guitar and voice with a few other elements thrown in (some strings here and there with some percussion). There were some backing vocals (by Marten) but, largely, it was a Folk-based album that framed the vocals more than anything. I think now, more than anything, the lyrics are in the spotlight more and the music/vocal side of things has evolved. Maybe Marten wants the power of the words hit more than the beauty of her voice because, when I listen to Blue Sea, Red Sea, the images and personal poetry stand out most. There are new sonic touches (new instruments and the production sounds is slightly bolder; backing vocals more striking) and it was important for Marten not to repeat herself but keep her core intact. Colour is important when it comes to Billie Marten’s music. Her debut album, obviously, has yellow and blue in the title and, to me, that seemed to represent fear/sunshine and unhappiness/the open sky. Other songs seemed to have that pastoral and riparian colour scheme. You could smell the Yorkshire countryside and its bloom but, when the lights were dimmed, the colours of Billie Marten were splayed onto the page. That might sound wanky/psychotic but she writes as an artist thinks. By ‘artist’, I mean one who paints. Rather than define her music in thematic and emotional terms; colour and visions seem to guide her mind; much in the same way visionaries such as David Bowie used to think. Not only were colours overtly references on her debut but her latest single talks of a red and blue sea. I will talk more of interpretation and symbolism then but, instantly, Marten is using colours to make one think and project. I think the ‘red’ could refer to blood or stillness and the blue to escape or depression. Rather than give us long titles (no song she has put out into the world has employed more than four words); she is keeping them brief (cryptic and oblique too) and letting the colours themselves do the talking.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Liz Seabrook

One thing that stunned me when listening to Billie Marten back in 2016 was how honest and lacking in pretence she was. Given the fact she was (and is) a teen could have meant an avalanche of modern slang, technology and lyrics that focused on sex. Maybe we might get some more salacious on her new album – a new/old/same boy in the scene; the growing woman exploring her physical side more – but it was the charm and earnestness that got to me. You wanted to give Marten a hug and a cup of tea and talk with her; tell her it was all going to be okay and listen to records with her. That sound odd but, without meeting her, I felt like I knew who she was and what makes her tick. I think we share musical obsessions (I actually bought John Martyn and Jeff Buckley vinyl I was going to send her but never did…) in terms of those classic singer-songwriters. We both have various psychological barriers – I am older but, as creatives, our minds are wired the same – and Marten’s quirkiness and humour is something that seems to set her aside from the copy-and-paste, rank-and-file artists that are being rolled out. Although colour and texture are prominent features in her music, the true personality of the songwriter is not disguised. Marten makes references (on Blue Sea, Red Sea) to wishing her mum could come and pick her up. Mice was influenced by a rainy and horrible day where she sat on a bench (in a graveyard, I believe?) and let everything out. Whilst Isabella Tweddle the daughter/student/northern star goes through depression and has struggles; at the end of it, can giggle with delight when seeing an alpaca (she has a love of those) and get excited by the emergence of Christmas; that is not filtered and dressed in fake clothing. The woman away from the microphone is not different to the one behind it. Marten is as raw and revealing in her music as anyone I have heard. You can tell she thinks deeply and has to wrestle demons but she does no use subterfuge and ambiguity when expressing these feelings.

There are more and more songwriters coming out talking about their emotions and issues – once was the day when it was considered taboo. Marten is frank regarding her struggles but she mixes it together with romance, literature and the comfort of home. Back in 2016, I had never heard anyone like Billie Marten. There were/are young female singer-songwriters like Lucy Rose and Julia Jacklin but the unique scent of Billie Marten is impossible to match. I have seen, in the ensuing two years, a lot of artists trying to get together their own version of tender, spellbinding and emotionally true music. Some have made a gallant effort but, again, there is nothing out there like Billie Marten! This is wonderful to see but I think it is that reflective and un-distilled revelation that makes her such a stunning artist. Even though her second album is not out and the songwriter is tender in years; she has come on leaps and bounds and proven herself to be one of the best young artists in the world. Look at what is out there at the moment and you get nothing quite like Billie Marten. I am hooked on Muse’s new album, Simulation Theory, and it is light years away from Marten. Although songs like Pressure are funkier than out of date milk in Nile Rodgers’ fridge; it does not have the same impact and emotional effect of Marten’s music. I can hear a lot of solo Pop/Folk artists who open their hearts and minds but they lack the same combination and chemistry as Marten. That immediate beauty and distinct accent; the sophistication and accessibility of her lyrical palette and the way her compositions act like characters and voices in a novel are to be applauded. No other songwriter, in my view, can combine those aspects as consistently and effectively as Billie Marten.

I have mentioned how depression and anxiety are coming into music more...and I will not dwell for too much longer. It would be easy for Marten to write about the rush of passion or the cheating liars who have broken her heart and appeal to the commercial mindset – but that is not who she is. Maybe she has experienced that recently (I hope not) but her songs are largely about her. Writing of Blues and Yellows dealt with third-person narratives in some songs but, in every moment, I felt like these characters and scenes were projections and sides of Marten herself. Maybe the biggest change from her debut is the greater personalisation of her music. Maybe songs – on the debut album – like Bird, La Lune and Emily talked of other bodies but, listening hard, and I feel it is a way for Marten to talk about herself without being too obvious and personal. It seems the two songs we have heard from her upcoming album have stripped away those layers and provided something clearly personal and direct – much in the same way Teeth did on her debut. This year has been a busy and eventful one in music and I feel the biggest impression has been made by female artists. Aside from stunning albums from the likes of IDLES – I feel Joy as an Act of Resistance will top everyone’s end-of-year polls – it has been a year for female artists to shine and strike. From Christine and the Queens to Anna Calvi and Cardi B to Kacey Musgraves; it is all about the strength and personality of the best female artists around. Marten’s debut was overlooked by some back in 2016 but I feel her unflinching honesty and artistic brilliance cannot be overlooked now. Many have already expressed their love and affection for Mice and reviews are coming through for Blue Sea, Red Sea. It would be a foolish reviewer who went in to reviewing her second album with preconceptions, naivety and any sort of negative comments.

Things start a lot more quickly and urgently than many might be used to. With some bass and a spirited acoustic strum; Blue Sea, Red Sea has that sense of weight and momentum without much flirtation. One actually gets a sense of the waves tumbling and the water churning as Marten, against the grumble and speed of the strings, provides some gravity and comfort. It is amazing to hear her pure and smoky voice contrasted against the composition. It is impossible to deny the sheer wonder of the voice but one can never ignore the lyrics! I have studied her work for a while and the way she employs language and presents images is exceptionally impressive. Here, somewhat unexpectedly, she plugs herself into someone else’s eyes; walks in their shoes and sees the world through their eyes. She likes what she sees and, at once, you get the sense Marten is at sea and lost. Maybe she has gone through a bit of a funk and cannot regain that spirit but she wants to recharge and come back. The heroine is a content fish in a blue sea and swimming along merrily. Rather than sympathise and wish she could get this release and happiness; Marten does not want anyone to love her and feel sorry. Gorgeously backed by (her own) vocals – to create this wave-like beauty and serenity – you feel like the heroine is comfortable in her skin but she needs her distance and time alone. The chorus employs wordless vocals (a series of “la la las”) and there is a delicious combination of strings and bass. My musical anatomical dissection is a little lax but you can hear a nice grumble splice with the skip of acoustic guitar. One can imagine Marten floating in the sea and there is no harm in sight. Maybe it is a rather casual and detached way to a feeling of stress and unhappiness but the heroine is by herself and dealing with her issues the way she wants to.

After the interjection of wordlessness; we see snow falling heavy and the need for her mum to come and get her. You can imagine Marten covered in snow and looking unhappy; waiting for familiar headlights to hove into view and rescue her. Whereas she talked about a blue sea and the warmth and solitude of moving in her own way; she wants the tranquillity and stillness of a red sea (maybe the Red Sea itself?) so she can feel that weightlessness and not sink. In an instant, you get a clear view: the blue sea is her underwater and feeling submerged whereas a red sea allows her that safety and she will never sink. Maybe I have jumped the gun but that is how it came together in my mind. Marten, still, does not want people picking on her with their sympathies and concerns. I love the backing vocals and how they heighten the song; the echoing and twanging strings and how she has introduced subtle new elements into the work. It is hard to suggest any improvements in the composition – I yearn for the piano – but there are lovely little sounds that come through as the song evolved. Marten wants to make friends with the angels and, whilst it sound fatalistic; there is that desire to be on her own plain and get away from all the crap the world is delivering her. Above all, that need to feel secure and not bombarded is most striking. As she did on so many songs on Writing of Blues and Yellows – including Bird, Heavy Weather; Hello Sunshine and It’s a Fine Day – weather and the sensations of nature are impinging her mood. On her debut album; you got the sense the Yorkshire countryside acted as safe space for her to wander and breathe. She has always used the weather and nature to act as symbols and characters. Few songwriters are as influenced by their surroundings as Billie Marten. She can be honest and revealing through her music but, at every stage, the natural world and its power plays a big part. It is another remarkable offering from Billie Marten that shows she has updated and pushed her sound forward but will not alienate people. The core elements remain but there are new instruments and little touches into the blend; a familiar lyrical bent but told in a fresh way. The extra exposure and attention she has been afforded after the success of Writing of Blues and Yellows could have changed her but, luckily, the young artist is keeping it real and very much her.

I have taken up a lot of your time so, before it gets dark and chilly; I will wrap things up and get down to it. Check out Billie Marten’s social media pages – all the links are at the foot of this review – and you can see she will be on the road. She is on BBC Radio 6 Music next week (performing for Lauren Laverne, I think) and she will be gigging in the capital (I am keen to see/meet her). The best thing about where she is now is the opportunities she has in front of her. She is supporting Isaac Gracie and Villagers and radio stations such as BBC Radio 1, 2 and 6 Music have spun her music. Marten is not an artist who appeals to a narrow sector: her universal lyrics and connection with the listener transcends age and language barriers and, as such, it seems like 2019 will be busy. I am not sure when her album is due – I suspect it is early-2019 – but there will be more gig demands and possibilities. Marten’s song, Live (as in ‘to live’ rather than ‘play live on the stage’) might have confused some with its homonymic brevity but the heroine wanted to break free and travel across Europe; take some time out and chill. The two years between the release of her debut and the new material has not been idle. She has travelled and performed and spent a lot of time reflecting on her life and trying to make music that pushes her work forward but remains honest to whom she is. That is a hard act to balance and kudos to Marten for achieving that. I am not certain whether Blue Sea, Red Sea and Mice are clear indicators of her sophomore sound but it will be interesting to see. I can envisage Marten playing in the U.S. – she would go down a storm on the West and East coasts – and more of Europe. I am not sure what she is like with long-haul flights but I can also see her conquer Melbourne and Sydney; taking her sounds around the world and seeing new faces. Maybe some would say the emotional rawness and sense of vulnerability in Billie Marten’s would put off some and appear a bit jarring. In fact, we are drawn to her more and can find something familiar and inspiring in her words (an artist being so honest with us); a songwriter who is not willing to compromise and wants to connect with the listener on a very deep and meaningful level. Although Billie Marten has changed slightly – the nose ring and a slightly different look on single covers – it is the same warm and charming woman we have grown to know and love! I am not sure when another single will come but we have the brilliant Blue Sea, Red Sea. Away from the evil of Donald Trump and environmental strain; the divisions in the country and all the horror we have seen in the news; above all of this madness and unhappiness, it is good to have Billie Marten...

MAKING it all seem better.  

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FEATURE: All the World’s a Stage: The Great (and Rather Misjudged) Examples of Actors Turning to Music

FEATURE:

 

 

All the World’s a Stage

IN THIS PHOTO: Jeff Goldblum (who has just released an album with The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra called The Capitol Studios Sessions)/PHOTO CREDIT: Pari Dukovic/Getty Images  

The Great (and Rather Misjudged) Examples of Actors Turning to Music

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A certain Jeff Goldblum is on my mind…

IMAGE CREDIT: Getty Images 

and it is impossible to ignore his charm and pure allure! The man, as tall and imposing as he can seem, is that lovable figure that we cannot get over and ignore. I am not a huge buff regarding his films but have, of course, seen him in the Jurassic Park films and Independence Day. The man, rather unexpectedly, is a skilled musician (the piano especially) and has just released, with The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, The Capitol Studios Sessions. NME, in this hot interview they conducted with him, talked to the man himself about the L.P. The interviewer tries to drill down to the nub of ‘Jeff Goldblum’ and what he encapsulates:

“I’ve been trying to put my finger on exactly what Jeff Goldbluminess is ever since I listened to his debut album, ‘The Capitol Studios Sessions’. It’s a collection of jazz standards, some of which you’ll know – ‘My Baby Just Cares For Me’, ‘I Wish I Knew (How It Would Feel To Be Free)’ – and some you probably won’t. For the last few decades, Goldblum has been playing low-key jazz nights in Los Angeles with his band, the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra. Then, in October last year, he happened to be booked on The Graham Norton Show on the same day as Gregory Porter. Goldblum volunteered to accompany Porter on piano, someone at Decca Records saw it, flew to LA to see Goldblum play his regular Wednesday night gig at the Rockwell in Los Feliz, and just like that Goldblum found himself with a record deal. “I never thought of making an album, really,” he says, sincerely. “It’s all taken me by surprise.”

IN THIS PHOTO: Sarah Silverman (who appears on Jeff Golblum & The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra’s album, The Capitol Studios Sessions)/PHOTO CREDIT: Glamour

The collection does see interjections/vocals from Goldblum but, in terms of the vocals/singers; control and spotlight is handed over to people as wide-ranging as Sarah Silverman and Imelda May. With The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra; the songs through the album are accomplished and pleasant. NME described it perfectly:

“It’s the kind of album you want to play at a dinner party, which, for me, means I’ll first have to become the sort of person who organises dinner parties. It makes me want to cook for people, just so that I can do that sort of half-dance around the kitchen when you’re cooking and listening to music and sliding drawers closed with a nudge of your bum. What I’m trying to say is that listening to Jeff Goldblum’s album makes me want to be a better man. It makes me want to be suaver, more sophisticated, more like, well, Jeff Goldblum.

At the age of 14 he did something so wildly precocious that it looks now like an early example of nascent Jeff Goldbluminess. He locked himself in the family study with a copy of the Yellow Pages, and he rang up every local cocktail lounge he could find. When they answered, he would announce, in the most adult voice he could muster: “I understand you’re looking for a piano player.”

“Most of them said: ‘Who is this? We don’t even have a piano!’” he remembers. “But some of them said: ‘Not really, but we do have a piano. Do you want to come down and play it?’ So I got a couple of jobs. I was too young to be in a bar, of course, but I stuck to my task. My parents drove me to one place, and then there was a girl singer or two that I remember latching on to – without being yet, as you know ‘active’ – but just magically in proximity...

These were showbusiness girls! They said: ‘Sure, you play and I’ll drive us to the gig.’ So I accompanied some singers, much like today.”

That was the first seed of what would become the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra. Snitzer herself was a friend of Goldblum’s mother, whose name he remembered fondly years later when he came to form his band. On YouTube you can see an interview with the sprightly centenarian in which she recalls young Jeff being “very upset” that he wasn’t accepted into the local drama school, Carnegie Mellon. She credits her brother-in-law, a talent agent named Lou Snitzer, with suggesting to Goldblum that he chase his dream to New York”.

Although a lot of people will turn their noses up at an actor recording an album and calling it a vanity project; you can tell this is pure passion and something Goldblum is not doing for the sake of it. Music runs in his blood and the man took to the piano before he was ever known as an actor. The disciplines and skills he has acquired from acting – modifying himself to tackle different roles and being able to inhabit someone else – are brought into the music and bring the songs alive. I have heard the album and think it is a great thing.

It is great fun to hear Goldblum and the musicians have a ball and bring something magical out. Reviews have been largely positive and Riff Magazine have provided their impressions:

“On The Capitol Studios Sessions, Goldblum turns the studio into a sophisticated club. He captures the warmness and personality of a live big band jazz performance while maintaining studio quality instrumental and vocal performances.

Much in the way Steve Martin has warmed up his audience to the world of bluegrass, Jeff Goldblum has built a not-so-secret second career of making jazz digestible to film fans.

What he and the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra have made here can be appreciated by jazz veterans and casual listeners alike. Much of that has to do with the credibility of performers like singer-songwriter Imelda May and jazz trumpeter Till Brönner.

Goldblum remains in the spotlight, singing from behind the piano. Listeners will get a taste of an authentic concert experience—from the compelling banter he includes with the entertainers he features, such as comedian Sarah Silverman.

After sitting with the hour-long album, listeners can walk away feeling as if they just received a crash course in the essential jazz Real Book—made accessible by that curious quirky attractiveness that can only be supplied by Jeff Goldblum himself”.

Jeff Goldblum is not the only actor/successful figure who has taken traditional standards and existing songs and made them their own. One could be rather snobbish regarding an actor making an album but Goldblum’s knowledge, passion and natural flair brings everything vividly into life.

Hugh Laurie, one would have thought, could not step from the acting stage to the musical one but, as he showed with Let Them Talk and Didn’t It Rain; he can take older Blues cuts and make them sound fresh and personal. Reviews for both albums (in 2011 and 2013 respectively) ranged from positive to mixed but, as a fan of Laurie’s work, I found the albums accessible and easy to understand. I am not a big Blues fan but was able to get behind Laurie’s performances and dive into that world. I would argue that, in the case of Goldblum and Laurie, they have managed to make certain styles of music more accessible to those who would overlook them normally. Each performer has their own approach to the piano and compositions but each leaves a lasting impression. I would argue Goldblum is a more charismatic performer whilst Laurie is more studied pianist and a better singer. In each case, people have been dismissive because they feel acting is where they should be – do we need actors getting into music?! Someone else who has managed to take classic songs and make them his own is Seth MacFarlane. The Family Guy creator has recorded four albums: his last, In Full Swing (2017), took songs written by the likes of Irvine Berlin and George and Ira Gershwin and MacFarlane gave them his inimitable style and sense of swagger! A wonderful vocalist and performer – a cross between Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and the legends of Swing – it was natural he would step into music.

We know MacFarlane for his comedy and directing but, as a performer, he excels and has that natural gravitas and talent. It is always the way actors get a hard ride when they bring out albums but I have listed a few actors/comedians who have stepped into specific worlds and could have fallen flat – instead, they have triumphed and impressed critics and fans. I guess, like I said, aspects of acting and comedy is involved in music. There is that natural link between performance worlds and being able to bring something physical, character-based and chameleon-like into music. Maybe there is a science behind it but actors like Goldblum, Laurie and MacFarlane can easily transport themselves into music and sound completely in the zone. Not all attempts at actors transforming into music are a raging success. This article from The Guardian focuses on Ben Stiller’s band, Capital Punishment, and why, as he says, the 1980s group were weirdos.

“Ben Stiller erupts in laughter. No, he says, down the phone from New York, he really didn’t expect to be giving an interview on this subject in 2018. It wasn’t that he forgot about the album he made with a band called Capital Punishment while at high school in 1981. He had a box of unsold vinyl copies in his house, and he would occasionally fish one out and play it to his kids. “They would really get a kick out of it; they thought it was pretty funny.” He mentioned it during an interview on the Tonight Show a few years back and the host, Jimmy Fallon, played a track, much to the hilarity of the studio audience...

IN THIS PHOTO: Ben Stiller with his band, Capital Punishment, in 2018/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images 

The band broke up when its members went to college, and Stiller says he never really had any further musical ambitions. The closest he got was while employed as a PA for a film-maker working on a documentary about Foreigner. “I was at a studio, helping with equipment while Lou Gramm was recording the lead vocal for I Want to Know What Love Is. He went to the bathroom, and I got in front of the microphone and started pretending to sing. He walked back in and said: ‘Hey man, you look pretty good there.’ I had a brief moment where I thought: ‘This would be really cool to do.’”

He says he was “sceptical” when he heard about Sniper’s plan to rerelease the album. In fact, it had developed a minor cult following among collectors (an original copy will set you back $200 on Discogs), but was bowled over by his enthusiasm: Sniper told Roebling that his own band, Blank Dogs, had recorded music inspired by the tracks on Roadkill”.

As much as I love Ben Stiller’s work and all he has given to acting; the music on Roadkill is not going to last in the memory and I truly hope the band do not make more material and leave music as a hobby. There have been some disastrous examples of music being somewhat tarnished by an acting entering that world! I will end by naming a couple of actresses who have succeeded in music – and a female musician who has excelled in acting – but there have plenty of faulted and naff attempts at a music career…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kevin Costner on stage as part of Kevin Costner & Modern West/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

Whether you see them as side-projects or fulfilling a passion, there have been many examples of actors bringing their music to the public – one wishes they shouldn’t have done. Since 2007; Kevin Costner has been performing with his own Country-Rock band, Kevin Costner & Modern West. The band have released four albums and, whilst it is interesting to see Costner in a new guise; the music is reserved, I feel, to those who like Country. That is a polite way of saying it is not able to appeal to all and, let’s be fair, Costner is probably better at acting! Although Kevin Bacon is a great actor and has been on the screen for decades; his music work with The Bacon Brothers is pretty average (at best). He has been in the band since the mid-1990s and it is another case of the music not being that striking. I don’t think Bacon feels the music will be loved by everyone and I can appreciate him pursuing a passion. It is, unfortunately, another case of an actor being best suited to the career we all know them for. The same can be said of Bruce Willis. His ‘Soul’ album, The Return of Bruno, is a dreadful thing and I have not managed to get through the whole thing. As guitarist for Hollywood Vampires; Johnny Depp has that music side-line and has been kicking around in music for a while. Alongside Aerosmith’s Joe Perry and Alice Cooper; the songs are not that bad but they are not going to trouble the best out there. Depp is a decent enough guitarist but the band themselves are no as formidable a force as their combined reputations would suggest.

Perhaps the most famous actor-turned-musician is Jared Leto. You might know him from films like Fight Club but this Oscar-winning star has been the lead of Thirty Seconds to Mars since the late-1990s. The band has released a series of albums and their latest, April’s AMERICA, was met with acclaim. The album has a political edge and is more diverse and genre-hopping than their previous albums. They document technology takeover and violence and, whilst there is confidence and standout moments, it is another album that has good moments but does not last that long in the mind. Although Leto is a fine actor; I find his vocals grating and the music of Thirty Seconds to Music has that Arena-Rock feel – it can get crowds chanting but there is not the substance and memorability you’d like. Other rather lamentable attempts at actors launching music career include Russell Crowe releasing music with the band, 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, until 2005 (they broke up, thankfully) and Jeff Bridges – although his 2011 album, Jeff Bridges, gained some good reviews and created some excitement. Whilst there have been some tragic actors-turned-musicians, Ryan Gosling, Jamie Foxx; and Michael Cera (who wowed with the solo album, True That, in 2014) show people should not have preconceptions and prejudices. It is not always actors who step into music and can prove a surprise: Lady Gaga, starring alongside Bradley Cooper in A Star Is Born, stunned with her acting ability and natural presence. Not only did Lady Gaga stun critics and make a huge impression but Cooper has shown he has quite a musical talent.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Lady Gaga attends the SAG-AFTRA Foundation's 3rd Annual Patron of the Artists Awards at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on 8th November, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California/PHOTO CREDIT: Charley Gallay/Getty Images for SAG-AFTRA Foundation

There have been other musicians who have stepped into acting without much trouble but there are few big success stories when the reverse has been true – few long-lasting musical careers from actors, alas. In a lot of cases, actors often tackle other people’s songs and it can be hard for anyone to gain success and traction doing that, let alone an actor. The few that have written original material – like Jared Leto – have had mixed fortunes but it is a shame more actors do not take to music. If you look at Scarlett Johansson and how her music has been received, she is one of those naturals. When she released an album of Tom Waits covers (four songs written by Waits and six by Waits and his wife Kathleen Brennan) in 2008, Anywhere I Lay My Head, there were a lot of critics keen to heap praise on the actor. In 2009, she collaborated with Peter Bjorn on Break Up and showed another side. The songs were inspired by Serge Gainsbourg’s duets with Brigitte Bardot and, again, gained some great reviews. Johansson, in 2015, formed a band called the Singles with Este Haim from HAIM; Holly Miranda, Kendra Morris and Julia Haltigan. Johansson’s incredible acting abilities and smoky voice have made her a respectable figure in music and she has a natural ability. Critics will always heap criticism on actors who step into music, as I have said, and that is the case with Johansson.

Although the likes of Jeff Goldblum and Jared Leto have scored better reviews; Johansson has proven herself to be an intriguing, talented and multi-faceted singer who does not need to listen to any criticism. Another famous actor who has succeeded in music is Zooey Deschanel. Formed with M. Ward, She & Him shows Deschanel is a fantastic and compelling singer-songwriter whose music can touch millions. It is hard to categorise the duo but I guess you could call their music Indie-Pop/Indie-Folk. She & Him might be the most successful and enduring case of an actor becoming a musician. She & Him’s first album, Volume One, was a success and gained some great reviews – such as this one from AllMusic:

“The occasional whistle here or slightly unconventional string arrangement there are the only traces of his usual artistry on Volume One. The rest of the time he and the band (which includes the ubiquitous Mike Mogis) create a soft, gentle feel equally inspired by the Brill Building and the Countrypolitan sound of Nashville in the late '50s. The only place the album falters is on the two covers the duo attempts. Deschanel doesn't add much to "You Really Got a Hold on Me," and Ward's backing vocals are just the kind of affected, arch singing she avoids elsewhere. Their take on the Beatles' "I Should Have Known Better" is better, but still awfully close to a novelty. The album would have been more successful without both tracks, but even with them, it stands as a nice coming out party for Deschanel. If you run screaming at the thought of singing actresses, give She & Him a chance and they might calm your fears. You may even forget the origins of the singer and simply be charmed by the singing, the songs, and the sounds found on Volume One”.

 IMAGE CREDIT: Getty Images

The duo have released six albums so far – 2016’s Christmas Party is the latest – and I hope there are many more records to come from Ward and Deschanel. Volume 3, released in 2013, had some covers on its but most of the tracks were written by Zooey Deschanel. She is a talented songwriter and lead and, as critics have shown, is that rare occasion when an actor can easily step into music and write their own material. I have highlighted Jeff Goldblum and mentioned actors like Hugh Laurie but Deschanel is keen to write her own stuff and not just do cover versions.

Jenny Lewis, I guess, is the only other actor I can think of who has managed to forge her own identity in music. As part of Rilo Kiley, Jenny & Johnny and Nice As Fuck; she has proven herself to be an exceptional artist whose music differs vastly from that of Zooey Deschanel. I forgot to mention another Lewis, Juliette, who is planning another album with her band, Juliette and the Licks. Jenny Lewis, as a solo artist, shines brightest in my mind. Her 2014 album, The Voyager, gained some great reviews and shows she is able to step into different guises – either solo or as a band – and succeed. Since 1999’s The Initial Friend with Rilo Kiley; Lewis has been able to prove herself as a musician and show that actors can make a successful music career.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Jenny Lewis on day two of Governors Ball on 7th June, 2014 on Randall's Island in New York City/PHOTO CREDIT: Eric Ryan Anderson

The Voyager, as AllMusic show, is full of great music and incredible moments:

“Working primarily with producer Ryan Adams -- Beck comes aboard to give "Just One of the Guys" a narcotic sway, while Jenny collaborates with longtime partner Johnathan Rice on "Head Underwater" and "You Can't Outrun 'Em" -- Lewis indulges in the sunnier aspects of vintage yacht rock, occasionally dipping into the Laurel Canyon folk-rock she's specialized in on her own. Guitars roam wide-open spaces, couched in luxurious reverb and draped in strings; the rhythms often follow cool, steady eighth-note pulses; the surfaces always shimmer. It's such a sultry, soothing sound that it's easy to ignore the pain that lies beneath but that's a feature, not a bug: on The Voyager, Lewis' characters live for today without ever thinking that the world might pass them by, and having her music flow so smooth and easy, she illustrates how easy it is to get sucked into that alluring stasis”.

I have only touched the surface of the actor-turned-musician world but, as Jeff Goldblum has an album out there; I felt it prudent to look at the ‘phenomenon’ and the rather mixed results. There have been some awful attempts – Bruce Willis and Ben Stiller – and some promising ones – Jeff Goldblum, Jared Leto and Seth MacFarlane – whilst Zooey Deschanel and Jenny Lewis have managed to showcase incredible songwriting chops and, one hopes, we will see new music from both of them next year. At the worst, an actor getting into music can be cringe-worthy but, in many cases, criticism and snob-like behaviour is premature and needless. I love Jeff Goldblum’s album, The Capitol Studios Sessions, but there are some who feel it is a step too far and a vanity venture. Regardless of what you think about the likes of Jeff Goldblum and Zooey Deschanel making albums and showing their passion for music; you cannot deny there is something wonderful and magical hearing these much-loved screen figures...

IN THIS PHOTO: Jeff Goldblum/PHOTO CREDIT: Pari Dukovic/Getty Images

STEPPING into music.  

FEATURE: No Prizes for Guessing... Why It Is Time for an All-Inclusive, Definitive Music Award Ceremony

FEATURE:

 

 

No Prizes for Guessing...

IN THIS PHOTO: Jorja Smith (who won the Critics’ Choice Award at this year’s Brit Awards; in a year when the ceremony showed greatest diversity and recognition of artists outside of Pop/the mainstream but still struggled to completely escape that mould)/PHOTO CREDIT: Bella Howard for GQ

Why It Is Time for an All-Inclusive, Definitive Music Award Ceremony

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WHETHER you feel music awards are a valid and essential…

IN THIS PHOTO: Sam Smith, winner of Record of the Year and Song of the Year for Stay with Me, Best Pop Vocal Album for In the Lonely Hour and Best New Artist poses in the press room during The 57th Annual Grammy Awards at the STAPLES Center on 8th February. 2015 in Los Angeles, California/PHOTO CREDIT: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images 

dynamic of the music industry; many are of the same opinion: there are few ceremonies and options that provide that true credibility and unity. I am reading pieces regarding black artists who often do not get recognition beyond genre-specific - Grime and Rap, for example – awards and, when it comes to the mainstream options, how many minority artists are included? I guess it is improving and you are seeing artists like Stormzy and Cardi B getting nods and gongs. The Grammys has been criticised for its lack of racial inclusion regarding the top prizes. There are, again, efforts to be more inclusive and considered but it seems, for the most part, the biggest award shows are dominated by particular races and styles. Pop still rules the roost whereas Rock and Indie have taken a back-seat; the mainstream gets more of a say and there isn’t, in my mind, that award show that goes all the way and covers all the bases. You might say that award shows are all about hubris and ego; giving artists due and putting them in the spotlight. There is little point to recording music if there is not that chance of winning awards and having a special moment. Actors, as much as they’d say otherwise, would love to win an Oscar or BAFTA and, again, there is that talk of racial exclusion and imbalance. The work itself is good enough and real value comes in terms of influence and touching fans.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Katy Perry/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

Awards are not the be all and end all of everything but, for most, it is something to work towards and can be more instructive and direct that critical exposure. If you want to know which album or artist is the best of the year; there is that sense of guideline and consensus. Regarding that last point; one of the issues that has come into voting and award shows is the accusations of rigging. Last year, Katy Perry came out and accused award shows of being fixed:

“Her openness is a huge part of her new on- and offstage persona, one that she’s been building ever since her political awakening in the fall, and has carried over into her subsequent musical endeavors. In a new profile for the New YorkTimes, Perry also shared some sharp comments on the music industry’s top honors that helped give her a platform.

“All the awards shows are fake,” she told the Times, “and all the awards that I’ve won are fake.” She continued on to call awards “constructs,” suggesting that they don’t have audiences’ true tastes in mind.

Perry has been the recipient of a litany of awards in her blockbuster pop career, including prizes from the American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, People’s Choice Awards, Teen Choice Awards, and many more. She has not yet, however, nabbed a Grammy, although she performed “Chained to the Rhythm” at that show’s 2017 event”.

IMAGE CREDIT: Getty Images 

I recall the Grammys being accused of ignoring black artists and awarding artists with the biggest record label. You do wonder if there is a pre-arranged deal with the huge labels regarding their talent and giving them awards. I am not suggesting all award shows operate that way but most of the big winners are looked after by the major labels. Not only are accusations being levied at U.S. awards; here in the U.K., The Brit Awards have been accused of bias and problems:

“Despite celebratory moments, the 2018 BRITs came under scrutiny for a voting mishap regarding the award for British Video of the Year. On Twitter, popular British girl group Little Mix were winning by a landslide and were head to head with 3 former One Direction members. Until the very last second when the polls closed, Little Mix were still on the list as being at the #1 spot thus supposedly earning them the award.

After a few minutes, the winner was revealed to be Harry Styles and his video for Sign of the Times. Fans became outraged and some quickly posted multiple screenshots proving the girl groups’ win on Twitter.

This isn’t the first time the BRITs have been accused of rigging awards. Two decades ago when the Spice Girls were at the top and Spicemania was flourishing, the quintet lost the award for British Group to the Manic Street Preachers. The winner for British Group has been purely male-dominated since its inception back in 1977”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kendrick Lamar (whose album, DAMN, missed out on the Album of the Year Grammy this year to Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic)/PHOTO CREDIT: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images  

I admit The Brit Awards is one of the few mainstream events that has diversified through the years. Recognising more women, black artists and broadening its genre scope; despite a few Pop-bias winners, it was a more eclectic and credible ceremony than in years previous. Away from the calls of label corruption and rigging; there are other considerations that need to be explored. The MOBOs are endangered because of lack of popularity/sponsorship and this has always been a place where black artists could get their dues and props. Look at the appeal of The Brit Awards and does it hold the same sway and controversy – the raucous and riotous getting into the press – as years past?! The Grammys have always faced criticism regarding genre-bias and ignoring true calibre; there are award shows for specific genres like Country and Grime but there is a lot of division. Look at something like The Oscars and you have this long night that recognises those behind the scenes and people that normally don’t make the red carpet press delirious. The Welsh Music Prize has just been awarded to Boy Azooga for the sensational 1,2, Kung Fu! The award show came about because of a lack of recognition for Welsh/Welsh-speaking artists and was discovered by Huw Stephens. Away from race, bias and language; there is always that thing regarding genre and how big award shows choose their nominees. This year’s Mercury Prize was won by Wolf Alice and, again, there were some shocked faces.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Wolf Alice (after winning the 2018 Mercury Prize for Visions of a Life)/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

Another London-based winner – after Sampha won in 2017 -; their Visions of a Life album walked away with the prize. There were hopes Nadine Shah would win (a norther artist with Muslim heritage) but she was denied. Although it was not a commercial sell-out, there was the feeling the public favourite was denied. I have long-since stopped getting excited about The Brit Awards and Mercury build-up. I feel like there are some interesting possibilities but, too often, there are missed opportunities and oversights. The Mercury panel failed to shortlist any real Folk or Country acts; not a lot of Soul or R&B and, for the most part, there was some safety. The final part of the award ceremony issue is recognition underground/rising talent as opposed those who we all know about and have won awards before. Again, when you look at the Mercury Prize and wonder whether artists could have been left out – Lily Allen and Noel Gallagher – and others (such as Let’s Eat Grandma and Shame) included. There are always going to be unpopular decisions regarding nominees and the way awards go but I feel, too often, labels and panels are responsible. There are public-nominated music awards but most of what is dished out is decided by a narrow focus. Awards are a great incentive for artists and, when they come with a cash prize, it can give that extra boost for a new artist.

IN THIS PHOTO: Let’s Eat Grandma (who missed out on the shortlist for this year’s Mercury Prize for their album, I’m All Ears)/PHOTO CREDIT: Jenn Five  

Great albums and labels deserve gongs and it seems there are lots of big awards – all courting their fair share of criticism – and smaller shows that are underappreciated and under-funded. It seems like there is an easy option to overcome all the hurdles: get this one-for-all and inclusive award show that would allow public voting and less grumbling. It would be impossible to unite all genres and categories – as you’d be there all night – but, like the Academy Awards; maybe having more categories and giving things variation. You could have a special category for Welsh-language and Scotland; be more open-minded regarding black artists and what they bring to music and, when it comes to the best album of the year, have that public input. Either that or do genre-specific album prizes or have a tournament regarding voting – all albums are listed and they are whittled down to the final four/six on the night. Without having labels pulling strings and any accusations of rigging; it would be a chance for small labels to win awards and rising artists to get their due. You could have music video options and recognise producers, engineers and D.J.s. Not only could you include award shows – and artists from them – like the MOBOS and The Brit Awards (and the Grammys), but shine a light on upcoming artists who never get a look-in.

I feel like the BBC should lead an initiative like this and often wonder why BBC Radio 6 Music do not have their own award show. They could perfectly orchestrate an award show that cured the problems regarding genre, gender and racial exclusion. The American Music Awards were held recently and, as you can see from this BBC piece; the night was dominated by Pop and white artists. I feel like there is that appetite for music awards, and always will be, but too many are dogged by narrowness, commercialism and that desirable musical commodity: the clean and white artist. Are music award shows relevant and worth anything in this day and age?! I discovered an article from Vice that asked the question and looks at issues that are not only affecting the music industry but Hollywood:

“The award show season has long been caught in this odd cultural situation. People like Madonna—or Kevin Hart, or Tiffany Haddish—are often employed to orchestrate some online buzz, which likely couldn’t be achieved without them. Over the last few years, amid an aggressively declining viewership, award shows have struggled, and ultimately failed, to arrive at a fraction of the cultural importance they once had. (There was a time when just having a nomination was enough generate more revenue.) These efforts, admittedly, have been valiant: in late June, the Recording Academy opened its “General Field” category—which includes the Record, Song, and Album of the Year awards—from five to eight nominees; last month, Sandra Oh became the first Asian woman to be nominated for an Emmy as lead actress in a drama series; and recently, the Oscars announced it would introduce some 900 new members into the Academy to diversify its voting body...

PHOTO CREDIT: @landall/Unsplash 

But these measures have also, on the other hand, served to affirm the presence of a widening gap between art and commerce. The two leading films at the Oscars this year, The Shape of Water (which won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Score, and Best Production Design) and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (which won Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor) were certainly not the best films in the race. The former is, at its core, a conventional romance flick—one that can just barely pass, if you squint your eyes enough, as an allegory for something else. Its situation in the 1960s (and its use of a black woman custodian as a foil character) is all that gives it any political weight. And then there is Billboards, which is—to be polite—altogether an incredibly racist film.

For the most part, award shows, as Carrie Battan wrote last year, seem to exist for the sole purpose of reinforcing antiquated ideas of what art—in an era of ultimate sociopolitical turmoil and pandemonium—is supposed to be: polite, conventional, and, most importantly, white”.

One main contributor to the decline of award shows – with the likes of the MOBOs resting for a year – is that thing with oversaturation. There are so many music award options that you are only ever going to be interested in the odd one. With most people getting a bit tired of the variety of awards out there; is it now time to vanquish the smaller, more predictable options and assimilate into this all-conquering, all-inclusive option? Maybe it would still see people sigh but it would only be the ONE show – you’d sit through maybe a few hours or so – and you could bring in little bits of music documentaries; some great live performances and have this interactive, uncontroversial option.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Lady Leshurr at the 2016 MOBO Awards/PHOTO CREDIT: PA Images

It seems, quite rightly, there is a malaise and fatigue regarding award shows and the sheer number out there! The Guardian explored this earlier in the year:

 “With viewers switching off, is it any surprise that the Mobo organisation has cancelled this year’s bash, claiming to be “regrouping” for a better outing in 2019? Or that the Oscars’ organisers want to add a prize for “popular film” because low ratings must be down to plebeian viewers unable to comprehend a Churchill biopic, rather than because they put out a three-hour show, 70% of which is strangers thanking strangers.

If you are tiring of all these dos, you are not alone. The sheer number of ceremonies is causing something of a crisis in the tuxedo-wearing community. In the past year, viewing figures have been down for almost every big awards show, with the Oscars, Grammys and Video Music Awards all drawing some of their lowest audiences ever. Last week’s Emmys was supposed to be a chance for renewal, with Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels drafted in to give the show razzle dazzle. In the end it was another ratings flop, and jokes bombed so badly it seemed as though the audience was taking part in a mass choral rendition of John Cage’s 4’33”. The only respite came from an onstage proposal from the winner of best director of a variety special. It was touching, but distracted from the fact that he was winning an Emmy for directing the Oscars. If award shows are, at the best of times, a circle jerk, surely the Emmys giving an Emmy to the Oscars is closer to one of Lennon and McCartney’s myopic self-pleasure sessions”.

PHOTO CREDIT: @elishavision/Unsplash 

Have a look here and you can see the sheer wealth and range of music award shows. You might not be able to accommodate everything and include everything into a single night but there is a great opportunity to provide something more diverse, quality-controlled and yet something that also recognises those often overlooked and cast aside. From British artists outside of London to women and black musicians; entire genres and getting the voting sorted so it is not influenced by big labels – there is a lot that can be done and I think, if done right, there would be this definitive and properly-god music award show! I would love to see it happen but it does not seem like anyone is initiating change and this evolution. Artists do not only make albums for fans and themselves: there is that desire to produce something exceptional and, alongside that, have it recognised through awards and celebration. That sort of boost and recognition gives impetus to others and for that band/artist; they are then spurred on and have that sense of achievement. I am seeing too many people ignored and entire sections of the music community being relegated or having to set up their own award shows. As we get used to the complaints regarding British award shows and the fixing of U.S. ones; the sheer dominance of white Pop artists; one has to ask whether this independent yet fierce opponent could give a home to everyone and be seen as this equal and reactive.

 IMAGE CREDIT: BBC/Getty Images

I would like to see this change and feel a big station/organisation like BBC Radio 6 Music could lead the charge. With events and initiatives like BBC Introducing providing special shows and discussions relating to various sides of music – how to get into the industry and how to deal with mental-health issues – it seems like the award show is at the other end of the spectrum. It is that peak where an artist can look back at their start and be acknowledged for something incredible. Given the very few award ceremonies that tend to please and unite music fans; I feel we need to make a change and bring that improvement. The award show would not demand people dress in fancy clobber and it would not be a chance for bigwigs and huge labels to clean up. It would be an impressive and diverse show that would help to reverse many of the problems existing and give recognition to artists who, normally, toil in anonymity. I am not sure which big music award show comes next but I am not holding my breath or getting too excited about it. I used to love so many aspects of music – including award shows and the charts – but that enthusiasm has waned. I have not given up on the music award ceremony and feel that, with an overhaul and this new inspiration, we could launch something that could please everyone and be free...

 IN THIS PHOTO: Adele was one of the big winners at the 2017 Grammys/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

FROM controversy.  

INTERVIEW: Lucy Whittaker

INTERVIEW:

Lucy Whittaker

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WITH her single, Curious, out today…

I have been talking with Lucy Whittaker about the song and its inspirations; what is coming up for her in terms of gigs and material and what sort of music she responds to – including a few albums that are important to her.

Whittaker discusses her goals and how important it is being on stage; what her objectives are for next year and how she spends her time away from music – she chooses a great song to end the interview with.

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Hi, Lucy. How are you? How has your week been?

I’m great, thank you! I’m having a good week – finalising release plans for Curious and finishing off the video. It’s an exciting time!

For those new to your music; can you introduce yourself, please?

I’m Lucy Whittaker; a Pop artist from London. All you need to know about me is that I live with a dog with one eye.

Tell me about the single, Curious. What is the story behind the song?

To put it bluntly, the track is about stealing a girl off a boy - I’ll let you imagine how it all went down!

How do you think it differs to something like Who’s Gonna Know?

Curious is more lighthearted than Who’s Gonna Know. It still packs a punch, but I wanted to write something that felt more playful and cheeky. The track is fun but it has a deeper message - be true to who you are and enjoy it. 

Might we see more material next year? How far ahead are you looking?

Yes! I’m in the studio right now putting the finishing touches to my next two singles and there might be an E.P. on the way…

Do you recall your earliest musical memory? Which artist or song first struck your mind?

I have a vague memory of hitting pots and pans with wooden spoons when I was really young. I can't remember what I was jamming along to, but knowing my parents it was probably some Reggae or The Rolling Stones!

What do you hope to achieve by the end of 2018?

By the end of 2018, I want to have reached new people with my music. I’m really hoping that Curious will help me to build on the progress I’ve already made and push me a little bit further along in my career. I’m also planning on releasing some of my favourite covers on Spotify so people can hear something a bit different from me.

Have you got a favourite memory from your time in music so far – the one that sticks in the mind?

For me, it’s probably when I supported Craig David last Christmas. The event sold out and there were 15,000 people there. The atmosphere was like nothing I’ve ever experienced and to get up there and do my thing was the most amazing feeling.

Which three albums mean the most to you would you say (and why)?

This is such a tough question! I honestly can’t pick a definitive three - but some of the albums that spring to mind are:

Michael Jackson – Bad

Lady Gaga – The Fame Monster

Kendrick Lamar – good kid, m.A.A.d city

I really got into Michael Jackson’s music when I was twelve and it opened me up to music in a way I didn’t think was possible. To me, everything about his music is perfect and Bad is packed full of bangers. Lady Gaga played a big part in me accepting who I am. I have always loved how confident she is in her identity and how she portrays it through her music and The Fame Monster was released at a time when I needed it the most. good kid, m.A.Ad city is just banger after banger.

If you could support any musician alive today, and choose your own rider, what would that entail?

Lady Gaga. Her shows are mind-blowing and to be a part of that would be a dream come true. In terms of my rider, as long as I’ve got a plate of Caribbean food in front of me, I’m happy!

Might there be some gigs coming up this/next year?

There are some really exciting shows on the horizon in 2019, so keep your eyes peeled.

What advice would you give to new artists coming through?

Remember why you started making music and how it makes you feel. When things get tough, try and maintain a positive mindset and hold on to that feeling. Also, my number-one tip is to have good people around you who have your best interests at heart - they are the people who will cheer you on in your best moments and keep you going in the difficult ones. 

How important is it being on the stage and playing your music to the people?

So important! Playing live gives me a chance to connect with my fans and make some magic. No two shows are ever the same, so it’s always special to play live and share that experience with people. I feel like playing with my band really takes the tracks to a new level and gives people a new way of hearing my music.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Heir/PHOTO CREDIT: Portia Hunt

Are there any new artists you recommend we check out?

Heir and SaNTINO. They’re both from Leeds and great guys. Heir’s melody lines are amazing and SaNTINO’s music is the coolest around.

 IN THIS PHOTO: SaNTINO

Do you get much time to chill away from music? How do you unwind?

Food! Cooking really chills me out.

Finally, and for being a good sport; you can choose a song and I’ll play it here (not any of your music - I will do that).

Emily Burns – Cheat

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Follow Lucy Whittaker

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/LUCYWHITTAKERUK/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/lucywhittakeruk

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/lucywhittakeruk/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/55v06TjyT2BQwlQf5exxQZ?si=pTQcSBynT4CFjNbgXCmpgA

FEATURE: Sisters in Arms: An All-Female, Autumn-Ready Playlist (Vol. XVII)

FEATURE:

 

 

Sisters in Arms

IN THIS PHOTO: Molly Rainford 

An All-Female, Autumn-Ready Playlist (Vol. XVII)

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WE are moving more into autumn…

IN THIS PHOTO: Magnetic Heaven 

and the weather is getting cooler and less sure! I am excited for Christmas and the winter months but the weather is something that always gets to me. The shortening days and cooler nights are not great and the rain/wind is a problem; having to wrap up warmer and not being able to go out all of the time. Regardless of the iffy conditions and the darkening days; I have compiled a list of female-led tracks that should get the blood temperature raised and get inside the heart. It is a confident and eclectic mix that will get the heat going and provide plenty of comfort. Have a look at the playlist and I am sure there are some songs in there that will get you in the mood. Autumn might be here but, with great female-fronted music out there; it is never going to be a boring or quiet one. Take a listen, sit back and enjoy...

IN THIS PHOTO: Ari Lennox 

SOME fantastic tunes.  

ALL PHOTOS (unless stated otherwise): Getty Images/Artists

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Jenn Morel - Kumbara

PHOTO CREDIT: Etienne Gilfillan

Lisa Knapp – Maria Marten

Moscow Apartment – Orange

Ari Lennox – Grampa

Emily Breeze – Limousines

Donna Missal – Skyline

Shayna Leigh – Justified

PHOTO CREDIT: @katrina_burgoyne

Lisa McHugh – Out of Heaven

Catherine McGrath – Wild (Acoustic)

PHOTO CREDIT: Chad Kamenshine

Elena Goddard – Wish U Weren’t Here

Kash Doll – Ice Me Out

Trina – Redemption

Ward Thomas – No Fooling Me

PHOTO CREDIT: Neelam Khan Vela

The Orielles – Bobbi’s Second World         

Magnetic Heaven – Feel It Right

Stacey Kaniuk – Give Up the Ghost

PHOTO CREDIT: @anthonyconwayphotography

Dani Sylvia – Love Me Good

Molly Rainford – I Like You

Lisa Ekdahl – More of the Good

Suzi Wu – Grim Reaper

Fightmilk – Your Girlfriend

Binky – Get Lost

Ashley Tisdale – Voices in My Head

Bryony Dunn – Monochrome

Emily King – Look at Me Now

PHOTO CREDIT: Angel Wade 

Clara Bond – I’m on Fire

PHOTO CREDIT: Ray Lego

Natalie Prass – Sisters

INTERVIEW: Daniel Isaiah

INTERVIEW:

Daniel Isaiah

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MY final interview of the day…

is with Daniel Isaiah who has been discussing his latest track, Javelin Fade, and what we can expect from his upcoming album, Only One Left. He discusses the personal highs and lows that influenced the songs and whether there are plans for gigs going forward.

I ask Isaiah what sort of music he is influenced by and which albums are important to him; whether there is an upcoming artist to watch and if he gets time to unwind outside of music – he selects a cool track to end the interview with.

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Hi, Daniel. How are you? How has your week been?

My week has been good so far. I have a couple of shows coming up and I’ve been trying to figure out how to play the new songs live.

For those new to your music; can you introduce yourself, please?

I’m a songwriter and filmmaker and occasional English teacher - and I spend most of my time in a little room in my apartment in Montreal playing guitar and piano, composing songs and writing screenplays. I’m about to release my third record as a ‘solo artist’.

Javelin Fade is your latest track. What is the story behind the track?

I found the chords in one sitting and recorded a demo right away. I didn’t have any lyrics though, so I just ad-libbed the vocal; words like “Rising in the fallout” rolled off the tongue. And so I imagined that I was traveling over the Earth and ‘the fallout’ was nuclear fallout - and I was witnessing the aftermath of total collapse - but it was over and there was nothing to worry about anymore.

I believe the album, Only One Left, was book-ended by the saddest and happiest days of your life. Was it a difficult period of your life to get through? How did they influence the music on the album?!

Well. My mother was sick when I started writing the new batch of songs. I wrote Till the Pictures Stop when she was in palliative care and it’s a depressing song, but it’s probably my favourite one on the album. About a month after my mom passed away, I started dating the woman who just recently became my wife. So, there was some light at the end of the tunnel. But there will be more tunnels! Maybe I’m better prepared for the next one.

You travelled extensively between those book-ended times. How important was it to get out into the world and away from home?

Travel is important to me. You travel and you see more. And the things you see become a part of you. I always have the impression when I’m traveling that time slows down. Whereas in Montreal, when I’m just doing my routine, the weeks pass by in a flash.

Did you grow up around a lot of music? Which artists did you follow at a young age?

When I was seven or eight, I would go to my dad’s house on the weekends and copy his C.D.s onto blank cassettes. One album that I liked a lot was The Beatles’ Please Please Me. My sister and I would put that one on and spin around in circles - which were as close to getting high as we could get in those days. There was another cassette I copied with ‘Fil Collins’ written on one side and Jennifer Warnes’ Famous Blue Raincoat written on the other. That was my introduction to the songs of Leonard Cohen. I loved them.

What do you hope to achieve by the end of 2018?

I want to finish a screenplay that I’m writing called Pink Lake.

Do you already have plans for 2019?

I’m hoping to shoot Pink Lake in March with a group of friends.

Have you got a favourite memory from your time in music so far – the one that sticks in the mind?

When I was twenty-years-old and living in Edinburgh, Scotland; a stranger in a park taught me how to Travis pick (fingerpicking technique). That was the best guitar lesson I ever had, on a sunny day, in the grass and I remember it fondly.

Which three albums mean the most to you would you say (and why)?

Something Else by The Kinks

It’s a beautiful album. There’s nothing else in the world like it.

Decade by Neil Young

It’s a long sprawling record with lots of great songs. It has kept me company for years.

Tupelo Honey by Van Morrison

I don’t know who the musicians are on that album but they’re the best.

What advice would you give to new artists coming through?

Learn how to record your own stuff. Try not to depend too much on other people.

Do you have tour dates coming up? Where can we catch you play?

Nov 21 at The Burdock (Toronto, ON) with Blunt Chunks

Nov 28 at Casa del Popolo (Montreal, QC) with Parker Shper

Feb 15 (2019) at Chasse Galerie (Lavaltrie, QC) with Thus Owls

That’s it for now!

PHOTO CREDIT: Year of Glad

Are there any new artists you recommend we check out?

Year of Glad from Montreal is quite good.

Do you get much time to chill away from music? How do you unwind?

I read a lot. I like reading novels and history. Right now, I’m reading The Jewish War by Josephus. It’s a bit of a slog but I’m gonna stick with it.

Finally, and for being a good sport; you can choose a song and I’ll play it here (not any of your music - I will do that).

Let’s hear Deseret by Cass McCombs

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Follow Daniel Isaiah

Official:

https://www.secretcityrecords.com/artists/daniel-isaiah

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/danisaiah/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/DanIsaiah

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4aDuNE6LWkaBuXT43fA4P6?si=7g7TGKBkQimZD1gkks7mOQ

SoundCloud:

https://soundcloud.com/danielisaiah-1

PHOTOS:

James Rosen

INTERVIEW: Shoji

INTERVIEW:

Shoji

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THANKS to Shoji…

for telling me about their new single, Bliss, and how it came together. I was interested to know what sort of music drives them and whether there is more material coming next year; if they have plans before the end of the year and which one album is most important to each of them.

Josh and Alex talk about the music they grew up around and tell me how Shoji came together; if there are any rising artists we need to check out; how they chill away from music – they each select a great song to end the interview with.

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Hi, guys. How are you? How has your week been?

Good, thanks. Our week has been busy; we’ve been locked away in the studio writing new music.

For those new to your music; can you introduce yourselves, please?

We are a duo called Shoji (Alex and Josh).

How did Shoji get together? When did you meet?

We actually originally met at school but only started working together around three years ago. Shoji was formed last year but we have worked on projects together before then.

Bliss is your new track. Is there a story behind it?

The lyric, “Devil's acre”, is a metaphor for being stuck in a claustrophobic head space. The line came from a poetry book that Josh read and it immediately struck a chord. The contrast of the last line "I know I’ll stay as long as I feel bliss" plays with the idea of addiction and using vices to self-remedy. The track title, Bliss; we wanted to use as a contrast for the meaning of the lyrics to symbolise being in a dream state

Is there going to be more material coming next year do you think?

Absolutely. We are working towards an E.P. for early-2019!

Did you grow up around a lot of music as children? Which artists struck your ears?

Yes. We both grew up in musical families but in different ways.

Josh: I was always around music. My parents didn’t play instruments (my mum dabbled in piano); however, there was always music on around the house when I was growing up. I was brought up on The Beach Boys and Van Morrison.

Alex: My parents are both Classical musicians so I picked up the piano from an early age. Fleetwood Mac and Queen were also always on around the house.  

What do you hope to achieve by the end of 2018?

We are looking in to booking some shows so it would be nice to have some in place for 2019. 

In that same vein; do you have plans for 2019 in terms of what you want to accomplish? 

We are working towards releasing an E.P. and it would be great to play the festival circuit. 

Have you got a favourite memory from your time in music so far – the one that sticks in the mind?

Josh: The feeling when I finished my first album...

Alex: Playing Glastonbury.

If you could support any musician alive today, and choose your own rider, what would that entail?

We would love to support Mount Kimbie. We both have a pretty sweet tooth so our rider would probably just be sweet (only the blue M&Ms, please).

Which one album means the most to each of you would you say (and why)? 

Josh: The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

The sounds and songwriting on this album are incredible. I saw Brian Wilson play it in full; it was my first gig and it was what got me in to music properly. 

Alex:  Burial – Untrue

This album got me in to Electronic music in a massive way.

Can we see you on the road this year at all?

Not this year, but hopefully next! We are working on it.

What advice would you give to new artists coming through?

Don’t take yourself too seriously. Try not to compare yourself to others and KEEP GOING!

Are there any new artists you recommend we check out?

Bruno Major, joan; Khruangbin and Hatchie are all on our playlists at the moment.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Hatchie/PHOTO CREDIT: Sylvia Austin for Pitchfork

Do you all get much time to chill away from music? How do you unwind?

We both work full-time in music so it’s all we really do but when we unwind a good book or a walk never goes a miss.

Finally, and for being good sports; you can each choose a song and I’ll play it here (not any of your music - I will do that).

Alex: Frank Ocean - White Ferrari

Josh: Noname - Diddy Bop

___________

Follow Shoji

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Speaktoshoji/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/speaktoshoji

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/6mRKPevabInyibh7E9rrdB?si=P7xBuTrwTKyYz5QgnN9zgA

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INTERVIEW: Foreign Affairs

INTERVIEW:

Foreign Affairs

___________

BROTHERS Adam and Lawrence Purnell form Foreign Affairs…

and they have been talking with me about their new single, Faded, and what it is all about. I ask them what they have coming up and how their music has changed since the start; which rising artists we need to get behind – they each select an album that is important to them.

I was keen to learn whether there are plans for next year and if they are touring soon; if they share the same musical tastes and what advice they would give to musicians emerging – they each pick a song to end the album with.

__________

Hi, guys. How are you? How has your week been?

Great, thanks! Looking forward to the release of our new single on Friday!

For those new to your music; can you introduce yourselves, please?

We’re brothers Adam and Lawrence Purnell from Bristol. We’ve come together to form our Americana/Indie duo, ‘Foreign Affairs’.

Faded is the new single. What is the story behind it?

Faded felt like an ‘end of the world’-type song for us; it's one of reflection and writing about something bigger than day to day life - "I ain't been everywhere my friend/but I’ve seen the leaves fall of the trees, they grow back again". We wanted the opening line to suggest a growth and maturity of the band, like we'd been away for a while.

Might we see more material coming next year?

Faded is the first single from our forthcoming record, The Old Fire Station, which will be released on 30th November. We have already started writing/demoing songs for a full album release next year.

Do you share musical tastes? Which artists are important?

We definitely do. We were brought up listening to artists like Rodney Crowell, Divine Comedy and Richard Hawley; all of which are amazing songwriters. In recent years, we have aspired to the songwriting of Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton but also a lot of artists outside of that scene, such as Leon Bridges, Nick Mulvey and Nathaniel Rateliff.

How do you think Foreign Affairs has evolved and changed since the start?

Our songwriting and sound has matured over time and, through touring extensively, we’ve had the time to explore and find the exact sound that we want to transfer onto our records. Both Adam and I now have a clear vision of exactly where we want to take our music which we think can only be achieved through trial and exploration.

What do you hope to achieve by the end of 2018?

By the end of 2018, we will have released our new record, The Old Fire Station. We are just so excited for our fans to finally have new music from us; that will be a great feeling. We have also been nominated as Duo of the Year by the British Country Music Association so we might have attained that accolade by then, who knows?

Do you already have plans for 2019?

We will be touring throughout the year along with a string of festival appearances in the summer; we have also already started writing/demoing songs for a full album release.

Have you got a favourite memory from your time in music so far – the one that sticks in the mind?

The first time we performed at Glastonbury is definitely a special moment that will stay with both of us. It felt like such a huge achievement to be stood on one of the stages at such a prestigious festival. Also, our first national radio play on BBC R2 was a proud moment.

Which one album means the most to each of you would you say (and why)?

Lawrence: Neil Young - Harvest Moon

It’s an album that I have been listening to for as long as I can remember. I always come back around to it regardless of how long it’s been. Never fails to take me away to another planet.

Adam: Rodney Crowell - The Houston Kid

The first record that my dad gave to me in my early teenage years; the songwriting and guitar tones were just stand out. A genre that I had previously not had any experience in; it had such an effect that I was later smuggled into the Bristol Bierkeller under-age to see Rodney play the record.

If you could support any musician alive today, and choose your own rider, what would that entail?

We would love to tour with Jackson Browne - that is someone that we could watch night after night and never get tired of his songs. We’d definitely pair that tour with some Brooklyn beer and gin and tonic (little slice of cucumber).

What advice would you give to new artists coming through?

Do whatever comes naturally and don’t force anything; it will always come through if the music is coming straight from the heart. Never give up and always remember to sort your parking permits! (Learn from us).

Do you have tour dates coming up? Where can we catch you play?

26th November - The Social (London)

We will be announcing our own headline tour shortly to coincide with the record release. (All details will be on our social media).

 IN THIS PHOTO: Jade Bird

Are there any new artists you recommend we check out?

Jade Bird, Ruston Kelly and Dermot Kennedy have been on-repeat for us, so we’ll go with those three!

 IN THIS PHOTO: Rushton Kelly

Do you get much time to chill away from music? How do you unwind?

Adam goes and watches our local football team (Bristol Rovers) which seems to do it for him! (Each to their own).

I love going for breakfasts and coffee (best meal of the day). It’s the simple things!

Finally, and for being good sports; you can each choose a song and I’ll play it here (not any of your music - I will do that).

Lawrence: Neil Young - Unknown Legend

Adam: Guy Clark - Rain in Durango

___________

Follow Foreign Affairs

Facebook:

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Twitter:

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Spotify:

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FEATURE: Love Thru a Lens: The Perils of High-Profile Relationships in Music

FEATURE:

 

 

Love Thru a Lens

IN THIS PHOTO: Cheryl in a promotional shot for her new single, Love Made Me Do It (out 09/11)/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images 

The Perils of High-Profile Relationships in Music

__________

THE reason I have chosen Cheryl…

IN THIS PHOTO: Cheryl (then Cheryl Fernandez-Versini) pictyred with Liam Payne in 2016/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images 

as a sort of ‘cover star’ is because she is making the news right now. Following her split with Liam Payne; it seems the days of dating are being put on the back burner:

“Cheryl has said her love life is "not happening any more" in her first interview since splitting with Liam Payne.

The former Girls Aloud singer is set to release new music on Friday and spoke to fellow musician Jessie Ware for her podcast Table Manners.

Cheryl said: "In business I know what I want, but in my romantic area I'm not as evolved - that area has stopped."

She also spoke about Bear, her 20-month-old son with Payne.

The artist formerly known as Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, Cole and Tweedy said: "I've got the man in my life now. I'm good."

The 35-year-old also spoke about releasing her first song in four years, Love Made Me Do It, which was written with her former Girls Aloud bandmate Nicola Roberts.

She was asked about her split from Payne and whether her new music – her latest single, Love Made Me Do It, is out tomorrow – was referencing him:

"All the music and the songs were done way before we split," she said.

"None of them are about anybody. That's the easiest thing you could write, it's such an easy headline.

"When I'm in a room, I'm not sat there with other writers thinking about somebody.

"We may talk about one subject and it comes out that way, but I wasn't writing a love poem to anybody."

The singer said she had taken a decision to change her life in recent years, saying she was "jaded and living in a negative space" after spending much of her life in the spotlight”.

Her name is Cheryl and she wants the brisket.
New Table Manners podcast episode with @CherylOfficial
-> https://t.co/EU60OiSP4b xx pic.twitter.com/vad9L3REyU

— Jessie Ware (@JessieWare) November 7, 2018

Whilst it seems some well-timed music will not do her commercial any harm – there is likely to be that extra intrigue regarding her new material – it seems the life of an artist is hard enough without bringing love into things. I know a lot of well-known musicians and figures who are in relationships with less-known (normal) people and there is not the same sort of intrigue and leering from the press. Even if you are someone like Ellie Goulding, Ed Sheeran or their like; there are not going to be the same amount of paparazzi at your door if you are dating someone quite ordinary – consider those high-profile bonds and how much more pressure comes with them. The same happens with actors. If you have two A-listers in love; that sends everyone into a storm and their lives will never be the same again; there is always that speculation and focus. Musicians are not quite as appealing as actors when it comes to the high-profiles bonds but it seems like there their private lives end pretty quickly. I know Cheryl lives a fairly quiet life but since she started dating Payne (and had a child with him) there has been that fever of press obsession and she has been thrust into focus. Maybe some artists can worsen a problem – big magazine covers posing with their other halves hardly deters and dampens that press intrigue – but it seems even having a normal and stable life is a unlikely.

 PHOTO CREDIT: @mvs_berlin/Unsplash

In this case, who knows the exact cause of the breakup. Maybe there were the pressures of two different careers or Payne not being as interested in family as his own interests. In any case; it seems that there is no real difference when you compare acting and music. If you have these two big artists, there will always be the lens out. People will scrutinise songs and pick through every line; wonder whether lyrics are about their lover and, when things go sour, whether the songs that follow document that. The life of an artist these days is tough enough and I know so many (unsigned artists) that avoid relationships because they fear the lack of commitment and time they have will render things null. You are on the road a lot and there are numerous demands; promotion is constant and the energy levels flag. I have mooted, before, the possibility of having a bespoke dating service for artists...sort of like a Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club-style pun/name that, in all seriousness, would make it easier for artists to find someone suited to them. In Cheryl’s case; I do not think she will swear off men forever – even if her son, Bear, does come first – but dating someone else in the industry is likely to get the press swarming around her door like flies on sh*t. The attention would still be there if she dated someone outside of music but one feels the level of intrusion and focus would not be as severe.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Guy Ritchie and Madonna (the couple divorced in 2008)

From Madonna and Chris Martin through to Cheryl – I know the first two dated actors/directors but they were both famous (Guy Ritchie and Gwyneth Paltrow respectively) -; it is always a lot more testing and challenging when you join two big stars. Think of some of the big-name couples in music that have survived the test of time such as Jay-Z and Beyoncé and it seems their success and stability is a rarity. Granted, that relationship has been put through the spotlight. Many felt Beyoncé’s 2016 album, Lemonade, was talking about Jay-Z and rumours of infidelity. There was a moment you felt they would split but, now, they seem stronger than ever and perform as part of a duo, The Carters. I suppose any sort of indiscretion and cheating will naturally go into one artist’s work and, when you consider the other will release music, the press and fan attention heightens and it can boil over. It is a problem and curse as old as time itself but I wonder whether that high-profile relationship can ever last. There have been survivors and successes but there have been so many more disasters and short-term bonds. When things do break; that can result in a series of petty songs where each artist takes shots at the other and, before you know it, things have truly unravelled. One artist who has faced a lot of unwanted attention and unhappiness regarding her relationships is Ariana Grande.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Jay-Z and Beyoncé/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

When she was dating Mac Miller; there was this sense of togetherness that stemmed from a rather sweet and humble beginnings and, after Miller’s death earlier this year, some blamed Grande for that and felt she contributed somehow. There were compelling enough reasons why the two broke up and the fact Ariana Grande misses him so much – a reason tweet from her shows that pain – means they managed to stay friends after the split. Earlier this year, a couple of months before Mac Miller died; news of their breakup was reported in the press:

“Ariana Grande and Mac Miller's love story began with a tweet, then a friendship built from their early collaborations -- first, "Baby It's Cold Outside," then with the infectious hit "The Way" -- before a full-fledged romance blossomed.

However, that all came crashing down on May 10, when Ariana confirmed the news of her split from Mac in a post on her Instagram Stories. "This is one of my best friends in the whole world and favorite people on the planet,” Grande wrote above a photo of them cuddling and smiling. “I respect and adore him endlessly and am grateful to have him in my life in any form, at all times regardless of how our relationship changes or what the universe holds for each of us!”

Naturally, the news of Ariana and Mac's split didn't sit well with fans, as heartbreak and crying emojis have since flooded the artists' Instagram comment section. Mac, who had a run-in with the law earlier this month and was charged with drunk driving and hit-and-run, has remained mum on all of his socials, while Ariana has been prepping her upcoming album following the release of her new song "No Tears Left To Cry".

 IN THIS PHOTO: Mac Miller and Ariana Grande/PHOTO CREDIT: GC Images

You could argue artists should date those outside of the profession to avoid easy breakups or having quite as much attention from the media. That is fair enough but in many cases it is the similarities they have and that common bond that brings them together. I am likely to be drawn more to someone in music as opposed to someone who wasn’t. It is that sense of compatibility that leads to a relationship and, often, can end it. A lot of the time, the pressures and time demands of music can lead to breakup and problems in a relationship. Musicians are among the busiest around and, when you are traveling so much and wrapped up in a new release, where does the relationship rank? We all get a little bit more interested when we see two well-known artists date and, of course, there is that glitz and glamour that comes with it. A lot times, that endless glare and sense of encroachment can spell the end to even the most secure of relationships – or mean any problems are exposed quicker and, in turn, that adds fuel to the fire. Most of the big Pop names around, at some point, have dated someone quite high-profile and a lot of times one wonders whether the relationship is quite calculated – a ploy for more commercial appeal or something that will generate them that hollow fame.

 PHOTO CREDIT: @wbayreuther/Unsplash

In a lot of instances, there is that un-cynical and natural affection that, if they were in most other industries, would continue to grow and survive. It is not the case every high-profile musical bond will end in flames and be a disaster but I always worry when I see big artists dating and whether they can ever be left alone. Creative and personal lives entwine and it can go bad. Social media can make things so much worse. For every ‘success’ story like that of Beyoncé and Jay-Z, there are these relationships that seem promising but, before long, are over. Love and relationships are the common stock for artists and some of music’s greatest moments have come from pure and content times. I am not down on musicians dating one another but there are obvious traps and obstacles that can trip them up sooner or later. That always present media lens is out and, wherever they go, it seems somebody wants something from them. The natural demands of the music lifestyle can cause their own strains and, if they are two quite prominent and mainstream artists, then that adds another layer of strain to the party. Maybe breakups can breed creative lust and success but the aftermath and realisations are pretty stark and harsh. Maybe Cheryl will date another musician/musical figure soon but it seems family life is more important. A new album and a clearer head has come in and there are new goals on her horizon. Away from all the upset and press intrusion; sometimes that high-profile breakup can result...

PHOTO CREDIT: @shadex_bona/Unsplash  

IN something quite positive.

FEATURE: Many Shades of White: Why The Beatles’ Self-Titled Album Is a Great Test for Modern Artists

FEATURE:

 

 

Many Shades of White

IN THIS PHOTO: The Beatles photoed in 1968 (top-left: John Lennon, top-right: Paul McCartney; bottom-left: George Harrison, bottom-right: Ringo Starr)/PHOTO CREDIT: Apple Records/Getty Images 

Why The Beatles’ Self-Titled Album Is a Great Test for Modern Artists

__________

I was watching a great live stream on YouTube…

that collected together a panel of great music minds who were discussing The Beatles’ fiftieth anniversary. Also known as ‘The White Album’; a fiftieth anniversary collection is available that has the original songs remastered and mixed by Giles Martin – the son of The Beatles’ producer, Sir George Martin – and the famous ‘Esher demos’ – Esher (Surrey) is where the band converged to record these demos, in George Harrison’s bungalow. Alongside all of this is a full and frank written account of the album, some rare outtakes and all the goodness you could want. It has been lovingly put together by Giles Martin and his team and, as I shall talk about later; it perfectly brings this fifty-year-old collection of songs to the modern time without sacrificing its authentic sound and purity. That is a hard job to do and one Martin has done with aplomb. Before looking ahead and why the fiftieth anniversary collection will open modern eyes; a look back at the album and what was happening at the time:

“Recording sessions for the White Album started with the song Revolution on May 30, 1968, and concluded with take three of Julia on October 13, 1968. Mixing was completed five days later on October 18, 1968. Recorded mostly at Abbey Road Studios, with some sessions at Trident Studios. Although productive, the sessions were reportedly undisciplined and sometimes fractious, and took place at a time when tensions were growing within the group.

Concurrent with the recording of this album, The Beatles were launching their new multimedia business corporation Apple Corps, an enterprise that proved to be a source of significant stress for the band. Also recorded during the White Album sessions were What’s the New Mary Jane and Not Guilty. These two tracks were only available on bootlegs for many years, but were finally released for the first time 28 years after they were recorded on Anthology 3 in 1996…

Despite the album’s official title, which emphasized group identity, studio efforts on The Beatles captured the work of four increasingly individualized artists who frequently found themselves at odds. The band’s work pattern changed dramatically with this project, and by most accounts the extraordinary synergy of The Beatles’ previous studio sessions was harder to come by during this period. Sometimes McCartney would record in one studio for prolonged periods of time, while Lennon would record in another, each man using different engineers. At one point in the sessions, George Martin, whose authority over the band in the studio had waned, spontaneously left to go on holiday, leaving Chris Thomas in charge of producing. During one of these sessions, while recording Helter Skelter, Harrison reportedly ran around the studio while holding a flaming ashtray above his head.

 

The sessions for The Beatles were notable for the band’s formal transition from 4-track to 8-track recording. As work on this album began, Abbey Road Studios possessed, but had yet to install, an 8-track machine that had supposedly been sitting in a storage room for months. This was in accordance with EMI’s policy of testing and customizing new gear, sometimes for months, before putting it into use in the studios. The Beatles recorded Hey Jude and Dear Prudence at Trident Studios in central London, which had an 8-track recorder. When they found out about EMI’s 8-track recorder they insisted on using it, and engineers Ken Scott and Dave Harries took the machine (without authorization from the studio chiefs) into the Number 2 recording studio for the group to use… 

The resulting tracks did not have the same sound as previous Beatles albums had. Thinking that something was wrong with the sound of EMI’s new 3M 8-Track machine (see left), they asked to have a technician check the factory calibration of the machine. The technician using a calibration tape showed the recording engineers that nothing was wrong with the machine, that it was calibrated perfectly to factory standards. The recording engineers were stymied — until they were told by industry professionals that the previous mixing boards at EMI had been valve (US English: tube) powered boards making the earlier Beatles albums sound different. The new mixing boards were the culprit – not the new 3M 8-Track recording machine. It, therefore, took some time before the EMI engineers were able to get the quality of sound they wanted using these transistorized mixing consoles. The EMI engineers were finally able to get the same quality of sound of eariler Beatles albums on Abbey Road”.

There has been a lot of debate, at the time and later on, whether The Beatles should have been a single album and not the double we all see. This article from The Beatles Bible collects the opinions of a couple of Beatles and Sir George Martin:

“After Sgt Pepper changed the world, the world keenly awaited The Beatles' next step. They had released just the six-track Magical Mystery Tour EP and the Lady Madonna single since then, and there was widespread speculation in the press that they were a spent force.

While recording the album, the group was in the process of launching the multimedia business Apple Corps, while coping with various upheavals including drug busts, changing relationships and substance abuse.

 

The Beatles were old hands at dealing with such pressure. They turned away from the elaborate excesses of Sgt Pepper, recording instead a simple collection of 30 songs under an even simpler name: The Beatles.

George Martin later claimed he had wanted the group to omit the album's weaker songs and focused instead on producing a solid single-disc release.

I thought we should probably have made a very, very good single album rather than a double. But they insisted. I think it could have been made fantastically good if it had been compressed a bit and condensed. A lot of people I know think it's still the best album they made. I later learnt that by recording all those songs they were getting rid of their contract with EMI more quickly.

George Martin
Anthology

Ringo Starr agreed with the sentiment.

There was a lot of information on the double album, but I agree that we should have put it out as two separate albums: the 'White' and the 'Whiter' albums.

Ringo Starr
Anthology

Despite its faults as a collection, Paul McCartney stood by the album, saying that the wide variety of songs was a major part of its appeal.

I think it was a very good album. It stood up, but it wasn't a pleasant one to make. Then again, sometimes those things work for your art. The fact that it's got so much on it is one of the things that's cool about it. The songs are very varied. I think it's a fine album…

 

I don't remember the reaction. Now I release records and I watch to see who likes it and how it does. But with The Beatles, I can't ever remember scouring the charts to see what number it had come in at. I assume we hoped that people would like it. We just put it out and got on with life. A lot of our friends liked it and that was mainly what we were concerned with. If your mates liked it, the boutiques played it and it was played wherever you went – that was a sign of success for us.

Paul McCartney
Anthology”.

Sir George Martin died two years ago but I think he would be very proud and pleased with Giles’ work on the fiftieth anniversary work. This article gives you a numerical guide to The Beatles but, so far, the reviews for the remastered anniversary releases has been positive. Ultimate Classic Rock gave their views:

“And from the sound of the double White Album, George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were indeed going their own ways. The 30 songs often unfold like solo tracks with various Beatles sitting in as sidemen with whoever was taking lead on a particular song.

That's why the seven-disc The Beatles (White Album) Super Deluxe is such a revelation at times: They sound like a band working together to create one of rock's all-time greatest LPs. There are some solo excursions here – especially on the stripped-down disc of "Esher Demos" that find the Fab Four testing out their new songs for each other – but there's also plenty of old-school camaraderie as the group works out old songs, new songs and songs that would sit in the vaults for years”…

 

The studio sessions are like that, offering selected glimpses into how the Beatles got from here to there. Sometimes it's just an instrumental backing track to "Back in the U.S.S.R."; other times it's an early acoustic version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" that's just a little less majestic than the one you know. And occasionally there's something jaw-droppingly awesome like that 10-minute "Revolution 1" that reveals sections that eventually found their way into the audio collage on "Revolution 9."

So, in that sense, the 27 "Esher Demos" included here are both the springboard to this set and its centerpiece, even as they reinforce the notion that the four Beatles were moving their separate ways. Early, skeletal versions of songs like "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" and "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" got big boosts in the studio when the entire band chipped in, but they're still fascinating and tuneful as acoustic pieces.

Still, these early demos don't mean as much without the finished record. Half a century later, the White Album remains one of the Beatles' greatest, influential and definitive works. You'll appreciate it even more after hearing this Super Deluxe box, which chronicles the LP's inception while furthering its case for such an esteemed place in music history. After all these years, it doesn't sound like the end, but rather a new beginning”.

 

I have chatted a lot about the background and sort of left the article on a cliff-hanger. I was, as I said at the top, watching the YouTube video where Matt Everitt (BBC Radio 6 Music) and Giles Martin spoke about the new release and dissected the songs. Joining them on a panel was Miles Kane and Andy Bell (Ride); Georgie Rogers (BBC Radio 6 Music, Soho Radio), Felix White (The Maccabees) and Dan Stubbs (NME). They gave their views regarding the album and why it is so special; how it has translated through the past five decades and why it remains so special. The consensus was – and will be for most other people – that the sheer eclectic range of the records means you are picking up new elements and reveals this far along. Songs fall in and out of favour and, unlike some Beatles albums; The Beatles holds a strong and loyal position in their all-time top-five. It was a great discussion and I learned a lot – from Martin and the guests – regarding the songs’ beauty and how the material came together. The fact most of the material was laid onto a 4-track – there was an 8-track but the guys wanted a simpler and less rigorous sound than on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band -  is amazing! Thirty songs on four sides (on vinyl that is; or a single sitting/skimming on Spotify); it is a masterful album that, despite some rougher cuts, amazed critics and resonated profoundly.

 IN THIS IMAGE: The Beatles (and Yoko Ono) depicted in their 1968/The Beatles period/IMAGE CREDIT: Ken Lowe

I guess two myths/quibbles need to be got out of the way before I look to the future. One, as discussed last night, was this notion that The Beatles was a band in disarray and chaos. It is true Sir George Martin was at-odds with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr (sirs both); George Harrison and John Lennon because, in terms of recording and the way it was being produced; he was used to a different style. The Beatles was a completely different experience to that of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Gone was the ruthless perfectionism and all-night sessions mining the studio for fresh secrets: replacing it was a band being a band; looser and willing to put the songs together in their own time. Whilst George Martin (I’ll drop the knighthood from now onward, if that is okay) was unhappy with the experience and felt it should have been a single album; what remains and we have is glorious. I do not feel you can whittle down a double-album as captivating as colourful as The Beatles because it is a long listen. The Telegraph mooted a single album and highlighted faults.

“...But where that 1967 masterpiece sounds unified, The Beatles (to give The White Album its official title) is fractured, its disparate pieces flying off in different directions. It is the sound of The Beatles falling apart.

Still, if you think the original White Album’s sprawling, wait until you hear about the forthcoming six-CD Deluxe edition, which adds 27 early acoustic demos and 50 session takes to the album’s original 30 tracks. As a tonic to that, let’s consider a shorter version. reducing The White Album’s 30 tracks (31 if you include Can You Take Me Back?, uncredited on the sleeve or label) to... how many, exactly? Fan site beatlesbible.com says 14 tracks is the “standard rule”. The White Album aside, six of The Beatles’ other 10 albums released in the UK had 14 tracks. So 14 it is. And like a diligent maths pupil, I’m going to show my workings...

 

An easier omission is Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da. Paul McCartney placed rocket boosters under already existing inter-band tensions by his insistence that the group spend two days playing Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da over and over again. It’s a banal ditty that exemplifies what Lennon derided as “Paul’s granny music”. But McCartney was convinced it was a hit. He was right, it was – the band Marmalade took their contemporaneous cover version to number one. But I think we can live without it on our leaner White Album.

Same goes for Honey Pie, a less egregious example of Paul’s granny music, but nevertheless a novelty item. We tolerated When I’m 64, Paul, because it seemed psychedelic on Sgt Pepper, coming straight after Within You Without You. We quite enjoyed Your Mother Should Know from Magical Mystery Tour (the double EP released in 1967 a few months after Sgt Pepper). But while we can admire McCartney's mastery of pre-war pop stylings, he's testing our patience with this one, and it hasn’t “hit the big time”

Meanwhile Birthday has not supplanted Happy Birthday to You as an anniversary anthem, and McCartney’s Why Don’t We do it in the Road?, while enjoyably crude, is not a major work. Nor is Lennon’s Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey. The primate in question may have been heroin, though the track’s exuberance suggests Lennon can’t have been taking too much of it at that stage”.

Apart from Back in the USSR, Helter Skelter and Happiness Is a Warm Gun; most of Jon Dennis’ selected fourteen have a calmer and more tranquil mood.

I contest there are a few songs I pass by – including George Harrison’s Piggies and Paul McCartney’s Rocky Raccoon – but each track holds its place. You could not do a single album because there is a subjectiveness and which songs do you omit?! People will be angry whichever songs you remove and, in a digital age, one can merely take the original double-album and select an album’s worth that they can put into a playlist! The thirty moods, stories and skins you get from The Beatles tells a complete story and is a definition of where the band were in 1968. The fact the band might pick a different fourteen songs to the collective critical wisdom suggests an obvious flaw in that plan. Releasing a double-album is risky and can divide but The Beatles knew what they were doing and the songwriting is exceptional. Even the slightly ‘weaker’ cuts are interesting and are worth listening to. Other states The Beatles were on the verge of splitting. Maybe John Lennon thought they were doomed and George Martin was happy. There were a few spats and issues – Starr briefly left and there were a few arguments; Yoko Ono’s increasing role in the studio meant she and Lennon were separate from the rest of the band; Harrison often wrote alone and did not have a partner – but the band were on the same page when it came to getting the material down. You cannot record a song as complete and formidable as Helter Skelter (Paul McCartney’s offering) if you are divided and squabbling.

 IN THIS IMAGE: The cover for the Super Deluxe Anniversary Edition of The Beatles/IMAGE CREDIT: Apple Records/Getty Images  

A lot of the outtakes and in-studio discussions show there was calm and that willingness to explore and unite. Whereas Let It Be, which followed the following year, was a visibly tense and notoriously fractured album; The Beatles is a lot more harmonious and easy than most assume. This article looks at the band being ‘broken’ doing 1968:

“How seriously were the Fabs adhering to the path of spiritual awakening as they returned to the studio to work on the follow-up to Sgt Pepper?

George Harrison, it seemed, was still into it. John Lennon was out of it, and maybe not just figuratively. When asked whether he had returned from holiday with anything "fantastic", he replied: "Yes. A beard."

McCartney's attention had drifted into a world of musical pastiche and Ringo Starr was unimpressed with the way things were shaping.

Not the most auspicious of starts. The truth is the Beatles hadn't really been on the same page since they stopped touring in 1966 but, buoyed on by phenomenal success, they just kept going.

Another major problem for the group was that they were without a manager. Brian Epstein had died of an accidental overdose just at the point when they were delving into meditation.

Aside from the colossal personal impact of this tragedy, the group's business affairs were now all at sea...

IN THIS PHOTO: The Beatles during their ‘Mad Day Out’ in the summer of 1968/PHOTO CREDIT: Tom Murray 

“Business differences were to cause them problems for the next few years.

Lennon and McCartney also had another issue to contemplate. While the quality of their songs, whether written separately or together (an increasingly rare event) was seldom in question, now they had a third songwriter to accommodate.

The material which Harrison was bringing to sessions was good. So good, in fact, that it threatened to eclipse theirs. Some would say it did.

Lennon was also bemusing his bandmates by bringing his new partner, conceptual artist Yoko Ono, along to every recording session.

On top of all this, their stalwart producer George Martin, frustrated at the band's undisciplined approach to recording, walked away from the project suddenly, depriving them of his genius in the process.

Arguments ensued. Paranoia was rampant. Ringo had enough and left the group, only to be coaxed back by the others, but not before they'd nailed the album's two opening tracks without him.

The White Album ended up being the record on which The Beatles cracked inwardly and irreversibly as a group.

As Harrison so accurately observed: "The only thing we could do was write songs and make records and be Beatles… successfully. And there were always good songs".

Whatever the opinions regarding their fragility and mental states; whether the album should be a single or a double; we are listening to it fifty years after release and revelling in its myriad voices and sights. It is a masterful work that, through the courses of thirty songs, covers multiple genres and themes. Paul McCartney alone is responsible for penning Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (a jaunty, Music Hall number), Blackbird (a Folk song about civil rights); Helter Skelter (a forerunner to Metal) and Back in the U.S.S.R. (a nod to the style of The Beach Boys). John Lennon was not to be outdone and wrote what is seen as one of the (if not the) best song on the album: Happiness Is a Warm Gun. It is a multi-part suite that would be taken to heart by the likes of Radiohead (Paranoid Android) and multiple artists. Lennon was not deliberately trying to do a suite-like song but he was following his instincts. Lennon also wrote Julia (about his late mother) and Glass Onion; The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill (a child-like song you’d imagine coming from McCartney) and Revolution 9 (more a soundscape than a traditional song). There were efforts from George Harrison – including the Eric Clapton-featuring While My Guitar Gently Weeps – but it was the lead songwriters opening their minds to the limit and coming up with some of the best material of their careers. They were no longer writing the three-minute Pop song for radio and worried about performing these songs for enthralled audiences (the band stopped touring before Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band as they could not hear themselves sing anymore).

 IMAGE CREDIT: Getty Images

You notice stunning drum fills or great effects; lyrics that jump out of nowhere and songs that burrow their way onto the brain. Denying the world of all the songs would be a crime and you’d miss out on so many gems. Giles Martin’s care and dedication means not only do we get to hear the originals fresher and in a modern context but there is more content around the songs: those discussions and outtakes show how numbers came to be and the process of experimentation. I urge people to buy the anniversary releases and get involved with every note and scrap that you can find. Not only was The Beatles the sound of a band, once more, changing the game but it was a record that few have managed to match. Bands such as The Clash and The 1975 have taken various elements from The Beatles and used them in their own work but I cannot think of another band who has managed to make such a scattershot and diverse record. Many might say one cannot release a double-album in the streaming age. Not only would people cherry-pick songs and discard the majority of the album; critics would roll their eyes and suggest it be narrowed to a single L.P. Taking risks is a way of moving music forward and we would not be as attached to The Beatles’ eponymous album were it not for the number of songs and how much ground is covered.

Consider how many different genres there are included and that provides a tantalising prospect for a new band! Maybe a solo artist could attempt it but, for those out there who are looking to push boundaries and blow the game open; why not look at The Beatles and take the lead from this incredible work of art?! I feel there are so many lessons and secrets to be discovered that you could make a modern-day equivalent. Maybe the recording process would be different in terms of the personnel but I don’t think you need to go ultra-modern and use high-tech stuff. Using 4 and 8-track recorders to give it that vintage sound – and keeps you focused and provides a challenge – and not limiting yourself in terms of subject matter (The Beatles covered everything from birthdays to loneliness through to civil rights and the rich elite on their self-titled album) is a good idea. Maybe not every song will hit the mark but it will allow you to indulge, not be limited by convention and routine and could lead to something spectacular. I know a lot of bands who were playing around the time of The Beatles’ release and taking heed from it. This fascinating study of The Beatles talks about the way the ‘fashion’ of the record has lived on:

“They fashioned their look in a similarly simple style. The gaudy showbiz flash of the Pepper era joined the Epstein-dictated sartorial conservatism of their touring years on the cultural scrap heap. In their black waistcoats, white shirts, black hats, snake-hipped, low-slung, tapered and tailored flares, they looked more like a gang than like a marching band. Cuban-heeled, ankle-hugging Chelsea boots, mix-and-match moustaches and meticulously mussed hair suggested the brooding frontier cool of the American West, riverboat gamblers with issues. It was an enduring stylistic template for the likes of the Black Crowes, The Raconteurs and the Temperance Movement. The ’68 Beatles – a one-stop shop for 21st-century stylists – were rock-band-cool incarnate”.

IN THIS PHOTO: The Super Deluxe Anniversary Edition of The Beatles/PHOTO CREDIT: Apple Records/Getty Images  

I think too many artists balk at the idea of doing a double-album and feel it will be panned. The fact that The Beatles loved their eponymous album means the experience was great and shows they were united in a common goal. They broke ground and created this breath of fresh air back in 1968. There have been a few half-arsed attempts to go some way to redefining the album but nobody has managed to go far enough to get the tongue wagging. It is 2018 and we have more sounds and genres available at the fingertips than fifty years ago. Modern artists can listen to the giddiness of Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da and the roar of Helter Skelter and marvel. They can vacillate over Good Night and Glass Onion and, rather than admire those songs; try making their own versions and following in the footsteps of The Beatles. It is a hard ask but the time is right and I feel a modern challenge would be well-met and admired. So, then...why buy the anniversary edition(s) of The Beatles?! You could stick with the original and have all the songs there – one gets so much more with tomorrow’s release:

“The BEATLES (‘White Album’) releases include:

Super Deluxe: The comprehensive, individually numbered 7-disc and digital audio collections feature:

CDs 1 & 2: The BEATLES (‘White Album’) 2018 stereo album mix

CD3: Esher Demos

- Esher Demo tracks 1 through 19 sequenced in order of the finished song’s placement on ‘The White Album.’ Tracks 20-27 were not included on the album.

CDs 4, 5 & 6: Sessions

- 50 additional recordings, most previously unreleased, from ‘White Album’ studio sessions; all newly mixed from the four-track and eight-track session tapes, sequenced in order of their recording start dates.

Blu-ray:

- 2018 album mix in high resolution PCM stereo

- 2018 DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 album mix

- 2018 Dolby True HD 5.1 album mix

- 2018 direct transfer of the album’s original mono mix

Deluxe: The BEATLES (‘White Album’) 2018 stereo album mix + Esher Demos

The 3CD; 180-gram 4LP vinyl box set (limited edition); and digital audio collections pair the 2018 stereo album mix with the 27 Esher Demos.

Standard 2LP Vinyl: The BEATLES (‘White Album’) 2018 stereo mix

180-gram 2LP vinyl in gatefold sleeve with faithfully replicated original artwork

 

The minimalist artwork for ‘The White Album’ was created by artist Richard Hamilton, one of Britain’s leading figures in the creation and rise of pop art. The top-loading gatefold sleeve’s stark white exterior had ‘The BEATLES’ embossed on the front and printed on the spine with the album’s catalogue number. Early copies of ‘The White Album’ were also individually numbered on the front, which has also been done for the new edition’s Super Deluxe package.

The set’s six CDs and Blu-ray disc are housed in a slipsleeved 164-page hardbound book, with pull-out reproductions of the original album’s four glossy color portrait photographs of John, Paul, George, and Ringo, as well as the album’s large fold-out poster with a photo collage on one side and lyrics on the other. The beautiful book is illustrated with rare photographs, reproductions of handwritten and notated lyrics, previously unpublished photos of recording sheets and tape boxes, and reproduced original ‘White Album’ print ads.

IN THIS PHOTO: The three-C.D. Anniversary Edition of The Beatles/PHOTO CREDIT: Apple Records/Getty Images 

The book’s comprehensive written pieces include new introductions by Paul McCartney and Giles Martin, and in-depth chapters covering track-by-track details and session notes reflecting The Beatles’ year between the release of ‘Sgt. Pepper’ and recording sessions for ‘The White Album,’ the band’s July 28 1968 “Mad Day Out” photo shoot in locations around London, the album artwork, the lead-up and execution of the album’s blockbuster release, and its far-ranging influence, written by Beatles historian, author and radio producer Kevin Howlett; journalist and author John Harris; and Tate Britain’s Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Andrew Wilson. The Deluxe 3CD is presented in an embossed digipak with the fold-out poster and portrait photos, plus a 24-page booklet abridged from the Super Deluxe book. Presented in a lift-top box with a four-page booklet, the limited edition Deluxe 4LP vinyl set presents the 2LP album in a faithful, embossed reproduction of its original gatefold sleeve with the fold-out poster and portrait photos, paired with the 2LP Esher Demos in an embossed gatefold sleeve”.

Say what you want about albums that followed The Beatles but nobody cannot deny, in 1968, the world’s best band were onto something and throwing away the rules! It remains this fascinating and multifarious treasure chest from four men who wants to create something historic. They did that and did so much more. We might pick odd tracks from The Beatles to ignore but I think each song is a part of the tapestry and essential. Through time, musicians and fans alike have given their views and expressed their love. I think now, as we marvel fifty years on; it is a great time for a modern act to look at The Beatles and...

IN THIS PHOTO: Paul McCartney during the recording of The Beatles in 1968/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images 

CHALLENGE themselves to match it!

INTERVIEW: Bizou

INTERVIEW:

Bizou

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THE brilliant Bizou…

have been telling me about their recent track, Superstition, and what its story is; how the band got together and whether we might see more material coming along next year – they each select an album that means a lot to them.

I ask if they have similar music tastes and whether there are any gigs coming up; how they chill away from music and which rising musicians we need to get behind – the band members each select a song to end the interview with.

__________

Hi, guys. How are you? How has your week been? 

Mina: We're good! We're in the studio listening to Nicole lay down some sexy bass riffs.

For those new to your music; can you introduce yourselves, please?

We're Nicki, Nicole; Mina, Erin and Josiah. We're a five-piece Post-Punk band based in L.A. We're ‘Bizou’.

Superstition is your new single. Is there a story behind it? 

One night; me and Josiah were digging through demos trying to find something we hadn't worked on yet and he pulled up a file called Black as My Soul. I had no idea what to do with it vocally for a long time - in fact - and it totally bombed the first time we tried to put vocals on it. I had to lock myself in my room for a couple days with it. The lyrics are about anxiety - the way it makes you paranoid and unreliable, especially to yourself. It all sort of spewed out of me suddenly, like a real panic attack. You know, light fun stuff! 

Do you think there will be an album later this year?

We have two E.P.s we're planning to release consecutively beginning early next year. Most likely one in the spring and one in the fall. 

How did Bizou meet? When did you get together? 

Erin, Nicki; Josiah and Nicole have all been friends, playing together in various projects for years. I met everyone through a mutual close friend of myself and Erin. After I left Wax Idols, I was eager to get back to work and hopefully avoid what I thought was likely to be a six-month long post-band spiral. We started jamming together on some demos Josiah had sent me and we have kept working together ever since.

You all hail from different U.S. states. Do you all have different music taste as well?

I think we all agree on The Cure, Siouxsie; Joy Division, New Order and Wire. Outside of that, I think our tastes really range. Nicole and I love teeny-bop divas from the early-'80s, Erin loves Steely Dan; Nicki hates Duran Duran etc.. etc. I think there's a decent interplay between our shared likes and dislikes - to create some artistic frisson. 

Do you already have plans for 2019? 

Josiah: Two E.P.S chock-full of amazing sounds and songs to rock your bowels!!

Have you got a favourite memory from your time in music so far – the one that sticks in the mind? 

Nicole: Playing drums in front of 10,000 people. I don't really play drums but I LOVE to play drums! I was convinced (very reluctantly) to play them for one song with the Pumpkins at one of our shows; it was an easy enough song but I was scared sh*tless! I had to sing background vocals too AND I was in high heel boots.

But, it was one of those moments I'll never forget because it was a ‘walking through fear and coming out the other end relatively unscathed’ kind of moment. You don't forget those! Also; my dad was a drummer so I felt him there with me in that moment and I know he was loving every second! 

Josiah: The one that sticks in the mind?  Similar to alcohol. There have been times when I get goosebumps playing music. That’s what I strive for when I create or play music. 

Erin: Two! One was when I played the Music Hall of Willamsburg and realized that two of my heroes (Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore) were in the audience and dug my drumming. The second is getting to go to Nashville and play with Bones from Midnight Oil in a band out there. It was just tons of fun and he's a badass bass player.

Mina: I feel like Josiah a bit - it's not a specific memory that I love so much but rather a feelingthat I'm trying to get from playing music and to stay in that moment as long as possible. When it's going really right, you just feel free.

Nicki: The one that sticks in the mind? Josiah and I were in a band called Light FM and we opened a show for Jesus & Mary Chain. I needn’t say more!

Which one album means the most to each of you would you say (and why)?

Josiah: Tears for Fears - The Hurting; Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump.

Erin: ELO - Out of the Blue. My folks introduced me to them when I was a little kid and I have a lot fond memories of travelling and listening to that record with them. 

Mina: Tori Amos - Boys for Pele. I can't even explain how formative that record is for me. It's like trying to describe something preverbal. That and Siamese Dream. 

Nicole: The Cure – Disintegration.

Nicki: Sonic Youth - Goo was one of my first albums and made a huge impression on me. Still does. 

If you could support any musician alive today, and choose your own rider, what would that entail?

If we could do a support tour with anybody, it would have to be Garbage. That with some coconut water and hummus and, honestly, we'd be set. 

What advice would you give to new artists coming through? 

Mina: Play a lot. Take everything about it seriously except for yourself. 

Josiah: Don't be a dickhead!

What do you hope to accomplish by the end of 2018?

We’re excited to finish all the tracking for our two forthcoming E.P.s by end of year. That and play a ton of shows; hopefully in a hometown near you.

Do you have tour dates coming up? Where can we catch you play?

No upcoming tours planned - hopefully in the spring 2019! 

IN THIS PHOTO: DRÆMINGS

Are there any new artists you recommend we check out? 

Josiah: DRÆMINGS, Livermore; MAWD, Shunkan; Nightmare Air and Sprain!

Erin: Erika Wennerstrom, Tempers and Lawrence Rothman.

Mina: This new Moonface record is fuc*ing me UP. 

IN THIS PHOTO: MAWD/PHOTO CREDIT: Ben Thomas

Do you get much time to chill away from music?

Josiah: I don’t get a second away from music. I record bands for a living. When I’m not working on music, I’m zen-ing the fu*k out on a yoga mat. 

Nicki: I’m usually either working my day job or playing music and, in between, I try to find time for hiking or other outdoor adventures. 

Nicole: Outside of music, I like to chill with my animals, do yoga; hike and sit in my hot tub with a glass of rosé. 

Erin: Most of my time outside is spent loving on my Fur Babies; cooking and spending time in nature. 

Mina: I second Nicole on the bath wine! Music is my main outlet. Just listening to it really. Apart from that, I like to read and write a lot. 

Finally, and for being good sports; you can each choose a song and I’ll play it here (not any of your music - I will do that).

Nicki: It's Obvious - Au Pairs

Nicole: Prison Girls - Neko Case

Josiah: Our Girl - Our Girl

Erin: Wolves Still Cry - Lawrence Rothman 

Mina: Dreamsong – Moonface

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Follow Bizou

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/unebizou/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/musicbybizou

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4d3D1EbEOEye3NfwJHZiiE?si=86XhQXwQQ5WrQQwMYkpNAw

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/unebizou/

INTERVIEW: Sorsari

INTERVIEW:

Sorsari

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THANKS to Sorsari for telling me about…

his single, Monster, and the E.P., Patterns. I ask about the inspirations behind the E.P. and what sort of music he is inspired by; the albums that are important to him and where he is heading as we look forward to 2019.

I ask whether there will be gigs coming up and which rising artists we need to get behind; if he gets time to chill away from music and which artist he’d support if he could choose anyone – Sorsari picks a great song to end the interview with.

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Hi, Sorsari. How are you? How has your week been?

My week has been really good so far!

For those new to your music; can you introduce yourself, please?

My name is Alex Jensen and I'm a twenty-eight-year-old from Edmonton, AB (in Canada). I've been making music under Sorsari since 2015 but I've been picking away at computer music for about ten years now.

Monster is your new single. Is there a tale behind it at all?

Nothing in particular. I was playing around with this Rihanna vocal and I managed to get some cool chops out of it and, when I heard the 'monster' vocal; I knew I could turn it into a higher energy type of track.

Your E.P., Patterns, is out. Are there particular themes and ideas that inspired it?

I wouldn't say there are any particular themes; I felt that 'Patterns' was an appropriate name since I was stuck in this pattern of producing that involved my transition to making music at 140 B.P.M. from 120 so I kind of just slapped the name on it as the E.P.

Is it true you recorded to 8-track? What was the reason for that?

No? Not sure where that came from.

Do you have particular music idols or artists you grew up around?

I would say my friends inspired me the most as artists since I grew up with a lot of different musicians and a lot of producers within my city. I always surrounded myself with creative people because I felt like I had a community of people who shared the same passion and desires to do something more than ourselves. Jake Robertz is one of my best friends as well as my biggest rival in the friendliest way. He always keeps my head straight with music.

What do you hope to achieve by the end of 2018?

I just hope I keep the flame alive and continue to grow and evolve with my music. I don't have any particular deadlines or timelines for when I want to achieve certain things with music but I want to keep the ball rolling and continue to break my own boundaries.

Do you already have plans for 2019?

I've recently been picking up some analog gear so I'm probably going to be making more music with more hardware involved into the tracks. I want to make an E.P. or an album or something with the new toys but, ultimately, I would like to make an album for Terrorhythm.

Have you got a favourite memory from your time in music so far – the one that sticks in the mind?

My favourite memory would be playing at Borealis Music Festival back in September. It was a brand-new festival that my friends put together - and it was nothing but fire from our local scene in Alberta playing all types of Dance music. I felt like I was at home when I was performing there and I was surrounded by nothing but love and the best people I've ever met.

Which three albums mean the most to you would you say (and why)?  

Kuedo - Severant

Burial – Untrue

Om Unit - Self

I think these three albums mean the most to me because they make me feel like I'm spiritually elevating and they're also the most interesting to me in terms of how they're composed.  

If you could support any musician alive today, and choose your own rider, what would that entail?

I would want to be direct support for Plastician. As for my rider; enough Clamato juice and hot sauces for Caesars all night.

What advice would you give to new artists coming through?

Be open in taking your time with learning how to use your DAW; how to synthesize your own sounds and how to create your own sound within your genre. Learn how to take criticism and realize that everybody has their own paces. I know a lot of people (including myself) who get frustrated at being slow but there's nothing wrong with that. As long as you're involving yourself with your art and spending any amount of time on it, you're constantly moving in the right direction. 

Do you have tour dates coming up? Where can we catch you play?

Nothing at the moment. I might plan on doing something within the western parts of Canada in 2019 but I really just want to focus on making more music since I feel like I have to improve much more before I do anything serious in terms of playing out. I'm honestly bored of a lot of my music. Haha.

 IN THIS PHOTO: MRKRYL

Are there any new artists you recommend we check out?

MRKRYL, Jake Robertz; Giant ibis, Yedgar and Zeal.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Yedgar

Do you get much time to chill away from music? How do you unwind?

A lot of time. I work full-time but I still have room for whatever. I usually just game if I'm not making music.

Finally, and for being a good sport; you can choose a song and I’ll play it here (not any of your music - I will do that).

Jake Robertz - Forest Spirit

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Follow Sorsari

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/sorsari/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/sorsariii

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2t01L1I0juJWbThU5jP06Y

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/sorsari/

SoundCloud:

https://soundcloud.com/sorsari

INTERVIEW: Humans

INTERVIEW:

Humans

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MY first piece of the day is a chat with Humans…

who have been telling me about their latest track, Still About You, and what its story is. I ask what is coming next and what sort of music they are inspired by; what plans are ahead in terms of gigs and whether there is a favourite music memory.

I ask whether there are any rising artists to look out for and what advice upcoming musicians should take to heart; how the music of Humans has evolved since the start and whether there are any things to get done before the end of this year.

__________

Hi, guys. How are you? How has your week been?

Busy. We both work like ten jobs so we’re pretty much slammed all the time. It’s great because we’re also both nihilists and it's making our lives go by really quickly!

For those new to your music; can you introduce yourselves, please?

We met at Ayden Gallery for Peter’s art show in 2008. I was a folky bicycling, missing-toothed poet and ol’ Petey was a Montreal-transplanted visual artist and aspiring Electronic performer. We joined forces and made some very rough around the edges but well-intentioned music that has subsequently been known as ‘dashumans’.

Still About You is your new track. What is the story behind it?

We wrote it in a shimmer of Los Angeles autumn. We partied so, so hard every night and worked all day everyday with our friend and colleague Carlos de la Garza. We also met a young chap named Ryan Daley who helped us out with everything plucked and plonked (A.K.A., he’s a really solid musician). We banged it out, writing about feeling like sh*t on airplanes, feeling lost and emotional while on tour; losing my girlfriend at the time and just pouring it all out on the page.

Might we see more material coming next year do you reckon?

Duh.

How did Humans get together and find one another?

I think I covered that already pretty thoroughly…

In terms of music; what did you both grow up around and idolise when young?

Robbie really liked Michael Jackson, The Beatles; Annie Lennox, The Police; Sting and Talking Heads. Peter liked some weird French music where they wear huge pants and Weird Al Yankovic. When Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit L.P. came out, Weird Al had the same single and an album with the same cover so I thought ‘Wow! The same whole album but all with dumb jokes; count me in!’ It didn’t turn out like that but I became a fan either way. I loved The Beach Boys, Genesis; Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins; M.J., Georges Brassen; you know, the usual kid sh*t.

How do you think you have developed and evolved since the start of your career?

We’ve really melded our styles together into this smooth concoction of the things we really like about each other.

Given your name; which song with the name ‘human’ in it would you select as the very best?

The score to/title track of The Human Centipede. 

What do you hope to achieve by the end of 2018?

Robbie: I’m building a Donald Judd bed-frame but having doubts about my ability to move it out of my shop and into my apartment. So, that is a huge concern and something I really want to figure out A.S.A.P.

Have you each got a favourite memory from your time in music so far – the one that sticks in the mind?

I really liked playing Coachella. I felt like a really special person that day. It made me really happy.

Which one album means the most to you would you say (and why)?

Nirvana Smells like Teen Spirit. I eventually bought it and it really inspired me: it was the first time I saw a band that looked and sounded normal to me; not pre-fabricated like everything I had seen till then.

If you could support any musician alive today, and choose your own rider, what would that entail?

Zeustate; she's rad. 

My rider has Kombucha, cigarettes; meal tickets; booze for our friends.

Can we see you on the road this year at all?

Not 2018…well maybe but I don't know. Not an answer, I know. 2019 for sure.

What advice would you give to new artists coming through?

Do your own shows, book your own parties and the rest will come.

IN THIS PHOTO: Art d’Ecco/PHOTO CREDIT: @dailycitytrain

Are there any new artists you recommend we check out?

Art d'Ecco is a Vancouver band that caught me by surprise. You know when your friends tell you to check out their band and you do and you're like “OK, cool". This one I was like "Oh, sh*t". 

Do you both get much time to chill away from music? How do you unwind?

Yeah; too much time but it's healthy because once you get back into it you feel fresh and inspired.

Finally, and for being good sports; you can choose a song and I’ll play it here (not any of your music - I will do that).

Mam Yinne Wa - Alogte Oho & His Sounds of Joy

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FEATURE: A Woman in a Beret, a Smoke-Filled Café and a Magical Moment in Woodstock: Joni Mitchell at Seventy-Five: An Icon Who Can Paint Lyrical Images Like No Other

FEATURE:

 

 

A Woman in a Beret, a Smoke-Filled Café and a Magical Moment in Woodstock

IN THIS IMAGE: Joni Mitchell/IMAGE CREDIT: Georgia O’Keefe/Getty Images

Joni Mitchell at Seventy-Five: An Icon Who Can Paint Lyrical Images Like No Other

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I hate to open a feature talking about mortality…

IN THIS PHOTO: Joni Mitchell in Amsterdam in 1972/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

but we are seeing icons pass and it is sad to realise we will never see the like of them again. Stunning songwriters like Leonard Cohen have gone and David Bowie, that ever-intriguing master, is no longer with us. I guess you can never predict when a big musician will leave the world but it is always poignant reflecting on what they provided and the fact we will not get to hear anything from them. Fortunately, in the case of Joni Mitchell, she is still with us and, let’s hope, not far from making some more music. She has not had the best of luck with her health. In 2009, she came out and stated she was suffering from Morgellons syndrome. It is a self-diagnosed skin condition that many believe is a delusional infestation. Mitchell said this thing was incurable and bugging her but that her health in general was as good as ever. In 2015, tragically, we almost lost her after she suffered a brain aneurysm. Mitchell was found unconscious in her L.A. home and regained consciousness whilst in transit to the hospital. There have not been a lot of updates since then but there were reports circulating she was in a coma. As of today, she is not but her health is far from perfect. It makes the idea of a new studio album unlike but not impossible.

Her last album, 2007’s Shine, was her first new work since 1998 and was a great relief to see. Many felt we would not see new material from Joni Mitchell and Shine, whilst simplistic in places, did have a sparseness and sound that harked back to her earliest work. It seems like we might be ambitious to demand new work but I am glad Mitchell is still with us and, gloomy as that sounds, she is an icon that has given the music world endless pleasure, brilliance and genius. Even when her work is a bit more basic – her later work does not match the scope and sharpness of her classic albums – I feel there is still so much to recommend. I have been listening to a lot of songs on Ladies of the Canyon (1970) and you get these sweeping stories and detailed studies. Characters, whether desolate or blissed-out, are set against vivid and tangible landscapes; painted and performed beautifully by Mitchell.  That album contains poignant and desolate character studies like The Arrangement and takes inside apartments, mindsets and moods. Mitchell, even on early albums such as Ladies of the Canyon, was able to deliver with such a sense of command and gravitas that you jumped into the songs. From the down-on-their-luck and overlooked figure of her darker songs; there was the optimism of Woodstock and a generation trying to “get back to the garden” – a sense of hope and community in a rather testing situation.

 IMAGE CREDIT: Getty Images

Whilst one might interpret Woodstock as hopeful there are, in fact, quite hard and strained messages that linger in the mind. Her 1970 work marked a bolder move and break from the slightly simpler stuff she was putting out at the start. Whilst not as accomplished and resonant as the material she would put out only a year later; you can sense this incredible mind starting to blossom and open up. Even a peppy and uplifting song like Big Yellow Taxi is an ecological study where parking lots are paving everything and it seems the natural world is disappearing. It is unsurprising an artist growing up around political tensions and wars would reflect these themes through music but it the consciousness and connection with what is around her that strikes me. I often associate modern songwriting with an insularity and a sense of looking down – artists not always opening their minds to concerns of the world and detailing characters. Although a lot of autobiography would come through soon; some of Mitchell’s best work arrives when she details lovers in cafés and elicit bonds in hotels; smoke-filled rooms and sweethearts passing by; a generation coming together or this strange figure moving and weaving through song. So many modern songwriters bring basic language to personal songs and they can be rather cloying. There are exceptions but few can write anywhere near as strikingly as Mitchell. Consider an album like Blue (1971) and the narrative shifts from widescreen third-person to a more confined and personal line.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Joni Mitchell with James Taylor at her Lookout Mountain cottage, 1971/PHOTO CREDIT: Joel Berstein

Although there are characters and one might think fictional figures are being spoke about; Blue is an intrinsically personal record that showed, even in her twenties, the songwriter could write in a hugely impressive and mature fashion. Mitchell once said her writing and self was as exposed as a wrapping on a packet of cigarettes. She was not hiding anything and her bones, scars and tears were there for the world to hear. Whilst there have been some genius break-up record – Blood on the Tracks by Bob Dylan is considered one of the best – there are few that are as arresting and enduring as Blue. Not only would that album signal a (brief) move from something character-based to personal but it was a huge creative leap. Backed by exceptional musicians and the piano (which came into her music in a more defining and prominent way); Mitchell has arrived as a songwriter – this was her taking a huge leap and, to many, she never made a bigger move. We have a lot of modern songwriters who are confessional and open but you never get that same sense of poetry and literary. Even when she discusses a break-up or loneliness; it is done so in such a moving and intelligent manner that one is hooked and invested.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Joni Mitchell at her Laurel Canyon home (date unknown; around 1968-1970)/PHOTO CREDIT: Henry Diltz/CORBIS

You can hear the spirit of Joni Mitchell in Laura Marling: a songwriter who has the same affinity for language and able to write in a broad and stunning way. Blue is seen as Mitchell’s finest record and you cannot argue against that. Whilst the mood is largely sombre and emotive; there are stunning line and wonderful poetry. Blue’s eponymous track states “Songs are like tattoos” and the immortal “Acid, booze and ass/Needles, guns and grass/Lots of laughs” is (a thought) that provokes the imagination and makes you smile. Songs on Blue documented this passionate and liberation woman who was travelling this road and, at the same time, was scared and excite. She could take a line like “I am on a lonely road, and I am traveling, traveling, traveling, traveling” and make it sound thrilling yet heartbreaking. She was part of the 1970s culture and this liberated, impassioned woman who was drinking in everything around her and wanted her voice to be heard. There was a lot of personal perspective but Mitchell was always inspired by people and scene around and bringing those into music. It is that personal angle that gives the songs more weight and conviction. Not willing to disguise hardship and fraught feelings; this was someone who wanted the listener to be involved and understand her mind.

 IMAGE CREDIT: Getty Images

Even when she was talking about the ups and downs of rootlessness and uncertainty; it seemed like she was speaking to the world and could understand those listening. Listen to songs like River (Blue) and how she wishes she had a river (“I could skate away on”). Maybe the Christmas song is a regret at the lack of snow and winteriness around her; maybe it is that need for escape or a chance to embrace something precious – in a single line, she could convey such intrigue and wonder. The Circle Game (Ladies of the Canyon’s closing track) talks of seasons go around and a carousel of time; not being able to return – only look behind – and go around and around. The use of this charming and traditional setting is a perfect way of talking about life and how it is a circle. In other tracks, Mitchell could document like no other the torment of staying alone and pining for love or embracing it and fear being rejected – Help Me (Court and Spark) perfectly expresses that decision and the unpredictable nature of love. Even when the subject matter was a little more straightforward and common (such as passion and trust) she has a way of writing in a fresh and unique manner. Her vocal prowess and the way she could elongate, twist and emphasise helped bring the layers and magic from the songs.

  IMAGE CREDIT: Getty Images

The more Mitchell steps into Jazz territory – albums such as Court and Spark (1974) were more progressive and experimental than Blue and earlier work – the more vivid and fascinating her visions became. There are people who say her more focused and personal work yielded the most profound lyrics whilst some prefer the songwriter when she was letting her mind wander and taking a different road. Look back to an early album like Clouds (1969) and Chelsea Morning poses the following: “Oh won’t you stay/We’ll put on the day, And we’ll talk in present tenses”. There is then a quirky line about rainbows running away and Mitchell bringing her suitor “incense owls by night”. You can feel that clash of the romantic and alluring with the odd and charming. We have modern-day writers like Laura Marling who can write in a similarly grand and accomplished way but nothing (she has produced) can match the greatness of Joni Mitchell. This fascinating article from Sean O’Hagan in 2013 where he was writing in The Guardian talked about Mitchell’s lyrics and how her creative mind was like no other. The seeds of brilliance were planted early on:

“For a long time, I’ve been playing in straight rhythms,” Mitchell told her friend, Malka Marom, in 1973, in the first of the three extended interviews that are included in Both Sides Now, a new book published next month. “But now, in order to sophisticate my music to my own taste, I push it into odd places that feel a little unusual to me, so that I feel I’m stretching out”…

IN THIS IMAGE: A self-portrait of Joni Mitchell/IMAGE CREDIT: Joni Mitchell/Getty Images 

“Sophistication – melodic, lyrical, compositional – is an undervalued currency in popular music, though it illuminates the finest songs written by artists as diverse as Lennon and McCartney, Randy Newman, Ray Davies, Brian Wilson, Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield as well as the songwriters for hire of an earlier era – Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, George Gershwin. It also defines the best songs that Joni Mitchell wrote at her creative peak, which, for me, stretched from the release of Blue (1971), through For the Roses (1972), Court and Spark (1974) and The Hissing of Summer Lawns (1975), to the pared and broodingly atmospheric Hejira (1976)”.

The music arrangements and their sophistication are often overlooked by some. Many focus on the voice and how divisive it can be. Some find her tones and way of singing grating or unappetising: for those with a more refined and educated palette; nobody could sing her songs as powerful and purely. Much more accessible and rounded a voice than Bob Dylan; Mitchell was able to absorb and inspire listeners with her incredible words and striking voice. Her compositions became more layered, deep and ambitious. In interviews; Mitchell professed her love for some of Bob Dylan’s songs but did not think he was all that when it came to compositions and the music. Maybe Dylan was a bit more straight and linear but Mitchell, one cannot deny, could take her music into new realms and project so much emotion, colour and story.

“The sophistication of her songwriting and, in particular, her musical arrangements is the essential element that sets Joni Mitchell apart from her contemporaries and her peers, whether the troubadours of the early 70s Laurel Canyon singer-songwriter scene or lyrical heavyweights such as Leonard Cohen, Neil Young and even Bob Dylan. And yet in the music industry, Mitchell has never really been afforded the kind of respect heaped on her male counterparts. Rolling Stone magazine once listed her at No 62 in its 100 greatest artists of all time, just below Metallica. She was belatedly inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, but did not attend the ceremony. At 70, she remains a defiant outsider and recluse, who has often expressed her disgust at the music business. And who can blame her?”

  IN THIS PHOTO: Joni Mitchell captured in 2015/PHOTO CREDIT: Norman Jean Roy for The Cut 

Although she was not a fan of Dylan’s compositions all of the time; the respect she held for the masterful songwriter was clear:

“There wasn’t much room for poetic description in those older melodic songs,” she noted in a 2003 Canadian documentary, Woman of Heart and Mind. “That’s why I liked the more storytelling quality of Dylan’s work and the idea of the personal narrative. He would speak as if to one person in a song… That was the key that opened all the doors”.

I love how Mitchell, like every icon, was able to switch between albums and did not rest on her laurels. She could have, after Blue, stayed on that course and written in that manner for years. The reviews might have been good but, as Mitchell would have said, that would not be emotionally sustainable! The fragility she felt around the time gave the songs their beauty and truth but they were taking a lot from the creator. Joni Mitchell released six albums between 1968’s Song to a Seagull and 1974’s Court and Spark – 1973 was the only year she did not release a record – and you can feel an evolution and change between the albums. Whilst her musical palette was widening and the artist was maturity; it is the growth and intensity coming through that seemed to define her lyrics by the time of Court and Spark – as O’Hagan documented in his article:

“Despite all these scattered clues, though, Court and Spark came as a surprise. Gone was the fragile, confessional songstress in a flowing dress; instead, here was a confident, full-throated singer in designer threads with a slick electric band in tow. Gone, too, were the acoustic songs sung with just a guitar, piano or dulcimer backing, replaced by an electric, jazz-inflected, intricately arranged sound, courtesy of Tom Scott’s LA Express, that weaved around lyrics that were acutely observational or dazzlingly impressionistic, rather than soul-baringly confessional. When her friend, Malka Marom, author of Both Sides Now, asked her if the band’s presence meant that she might risk the vulnerable singer-songwriter image she had cultivated, Mitchell replied defiantly: “Well, I don’t want to be vulnerable any more.”

Not for the first or last time, Joni Mitchell had moved on and, in doing so, had remade herself in the manner of a true artist”.

IMAGE CREDIT: Getty Images 

Through every year and revelation; the songwriting got bolder and was always curious as to what was around her. Although 1975’s The Hissing of Summer Lawns got a bit of a press kicking; it has inspired many modern-day songwriters:

“Among those who did get The Hissing of Summer Lawns, though, were Morrissey – who called it “the first album that completely captivated me” – and Prince. “Hissing got thrashed,” a defiant but still bruised Mitchell recalls in Both Sides Now. “But meanwhile out there was Prince. That was his first Joni record, and it was his Joni record of all time. So, though it got thrashed by the press, the young artists coming up could see there was something going on there.”

IN THIS PHOTO: Joni Mitchell photoed in 1976/PHOTO CREDIT: Norman Seeff

What was going on was another refinement of style, another burnishing of lyrical and musical sophistication. Both the title track and Edith and the Kingpin dissect the compromises made by women bound by marriage to powerful men. The former has poetry aplenty, her observational skill honed to near perfection as she elaborates the consequences of a hollowed-out life behind the high walls of a mansion in the Hollywood hills: “He gave her his darkness to regret, and good reason to quit him/ He gave her a roomful of Chippendale that nobody sits in”.

In honour of Joni Mitchell’s seventy-five years on the planet; I have ended this piece with a seventy-five-song playlist that, I feel, explores every aspect and sinew of her lyrical body. Whilst her compositions and vocals were (are) magical and like nothing else; how she could present these stories and create such powerful words has inspired me. It is hard to think of a songwriter since Joni Mitchell who has been able to write in the same way and has that distinct pen. That is why, as I was saying, it is hard to lose these icons of music. We hope there are many more years left in Mitchell and she returns to full health very soon. Who knows; even though she is comfortable into her seventy and her glory days are behind; maybe we will all be able to look forward to the day Joni Mitchell…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Joni Mitchell captured in 2015/PHOTO CREDIT: Norman Jean Roy for The Cut 

RETURNS to the studio!