Miscellaneous - February 2009

  by Admin

published: 11 / 1 / 2009

intro

Hello and welcome to the February edition of the Penny Black Music magazine, and, after the Christmas break, our first full new edition of the New Year. We don't usually do themes at Pennyblackmusic, but to celebrate the release of the new 4CD Factory Records box set, 'Communications', which

Hello and welcome to the February edition of the Pennyblackmusic magazine, and, after the Christmas break, our first full new edition of the New Year. We don't usually do themes at Pennyblackmusic, but to celebrate the release of the new 4CD Factory Records box set, 'Communications', which was reviewed by Anthony Dhanendran in December and came out on January 19th, we are, however, making an exception and are running interviews with three of the main bands of the early Factory era. In our lead interview this month, Denzil Watson speaks to Richard H Kirk from the electronic pioneers Cabaret Voltaire, who appeared on Factory's double seven inch debut record release, 'A Factory Sampler.' Elsewhere Mark Rowland chats to Jez Kerr from post-punks A Certain Ratio who released five albums and ten singles on Factory between 1978 and 1986, while I talk to Andy McLuskey from bestselling synth act Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark whose debut single, 'Electricity', was Factory's second single in 1978. In our other main interviews this month, Ben Howarth chats to ex-Hefner front man Darren Hayman about his new album 'Pram Town', all the songs from which are set in the Essex new town of Harlow ; Malcolm Carter talks to Ocean Colour Scene's Steve Cradock about his debut solo album, 'The Kundalini Target', and Rachel Williams, in her first interview for Pennyblackmusic, chats to New York indie pop group the Pains of Being Pure at Heart who have recently toured with the Wedding Present. There is an interview, which we are running in two consecutive parts, with American late 80s and early 90s indie trio Springhouse, who have just self- released their third album, 'From Now to OK', which has taken them ten years to record. Our other new interviews this month are with discordant all-girl New York trio the Vivian Girls ; Oxford-based band International Jetsetters, which featuring members of the current line-up of the Jesus and Mary Chain, have just released their debut EP, 'Heart is Black' ; Mancurian musician Michael Dorward, who under the moniker of Crazy Man Michael, has just put out his 60s folk tinged first album 'The Green Light', and Toby Ingalls from the Boston band Magic 12, who back for a fourth interview with us, has just released 'Pushing Up the Daisies', a retrospective compilation, which is available for packaging and posting costs only. The year started with the sad news of Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton at the age of 60. In our profiles section Jon Rogers looks at the legacy and impact of the Stooges' massively influential first two albums, 'The Stooges' and 'Fun House', and Mark Rowland examines Asheton's life in an obituary. There are also in the profiles section reviews of new DVDs on Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, the Yardbirds and Eric Burdon. In our live reviews section, there are reviews of gigs by King Khan, Magic Christian, Apocalyptica, Herman Dune, Anais Mitchell, Shelleyann Orphan, the Levellers, James Yorkston, A Place to Bury Strangers and I Like Trains. In our features section, Ben Howarth in his regular 'Condemned to Rock 'n' Roll' column expresses his fury at the growing practice of bands who allow their music to be used in TV adverts. Malcolm Carter in our 'Re : View' spot, in which our writers look back on albums from the past, reflects upon Miles Davis' 1958 classic record, 'A Kind of Blue', which has been recently re-released in a 50th anniversary box set. Our Website of the Month is 'The Quietus', a new alternative music and popular culture website. There are also 29 album and single reviews. In our last up-date for reviews at the begnning of January we put on-line another 32 reviews. Regular visitors to the site may have noticed that Maarten Schiethart, our radio manager, has been doing some upgrading to the Pennyblackmusic radio station over the last month. He has put a 'Stop/Start' icon on the bar above our banner from which his most recent radio programme can be heard. He will also be up-dating the radio pages and developing the radio station so that it is easier to access and has a larger presence on the site over the next few months. Thank you to Malcolm Carter, Andrew Carver, Dan Cressey, Dixie Ernill, Benjamin Howarth, Sarah Maybank, Anthony Middleton, Chris O’ Toole, Mark Rowland, Maarten Schiethart,Kelly Smith, Anthony Strutt, Denzil Watson and Rachel Williams who have all contributed articles to this edition or the reviews up-date in January. Thank you too to our photographer Neil Bailey who contributed the photographs that accompany the review of the Levellers gig, and guest reviewer Charles Howarth who contributed the review of the Anais Mitchell show. Special thank you to Richard Banks, our webmaster for all his work behind the scenes. We will be back in mid February with another reviews up-date, and then at the beginning of March. We hope to be running interviews with Damon and Naomi, Joe Gideon and the Shark, Asobi Seksu, Innerpartysystem, Anais Mitchell, the Gaslight Anthem, Shelleyann Orphan, the Howling Bells, Whirlpool Guest House and Glissando. We will also then have more 'Profiles', another 'Re : View', another 'Website of the Month' and more features, live reviews and album and single reviews. Thank you as always for reading. John Clarkson Magazine Editor www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk