Miscellaneous - August 2011

  by Admin

published: 4 / 8 / 2011

intro

Hello, and welcome to the August edition of the Pennyblackmusic Magazine.We have now been running Bands’ Nights in London for eight years, and will be concluding this year with two shows, one again at the Half Moon in Herne Hill in London on Saturday October 29th, but also, in what

Hello, and welcome to the August edition of the Pennyblackmusic Magazine. We have been running now Bands’ Nights in London for eight years, and will be concluding this year with two shows, one again at the Half Moon in Herne Hill in London on Saturday October 29th, but also, in what is unchartered territory for us, another on Saturday November 19th in Manchester. We will have more details about the Manchester show over the next few weeks, but can confirm that it will take place at Gullivers on Oldham Street and will be headlined by the Experimental Pop Band, who will be travelling up from Bristol for the occasion. The Experimental Pop Band’s front man Davey Woodward, along with another two acts, will also be supporting himself lower down the bill with a short solo set. Tickets for the London show which will cost £5 in advance and £6 on the night can be bought in advance from www.wegottickets.com/event/129653. The evening will be headlined by self-described “urban country” outfit Morton Valence, whose music is a combination of pop, punk, electronica as well as country, and Madam, the project of singer-songwriter Sukie Smith, who previously played one of our Bands’ Night at the Brixton Windmill in 2009. Both bands have just released second albums. Morton Valence’s’ ‘Me & Home James’ tells of an illicit drive in an illegal taxi across South London, and Madam’s Pledge Music-funded ‘Gone Before Morning’ has won much acclaim since its release earlier this year. Also on the Half Moon bill on the 29th October are the Doomed Bird of Providence, whose turbulent sound features an accordionist and has drawn them comparisons with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and Rome Pays Off, the new band of ambient pioneers Rothko’s Mark Beazley. There are fuller details about the London show and all of its acts in a profile in our Regular Features section. Elsewhere in our Regular Feature section in ‘This Metal Sky’ Jeff Thiessen provides thirteen reasons why he believes Public Enemy are the greatest hip-hop act of all time, while Tottenham-based resident Jon Rogers in 'Hitting the Right Note', after the recent outbreak of rioting and looting in the UK, takes a personal and provocative look at riot songs. In ‘Condemned to Rock ‘n’ Roll Ben Howarth argues the case for the defence for the ukulele, while in his ‘Evidently Spencertown’ poetry column Spencer Robertshaw pays poignant testimony to the late Amy Winehouse. In our ‘Soundtrack of Our Lives’, in which our writers describe the personal impact of music in their lives, Andy Cassidy writes about how being given both his grandmother and then his father’s LP collections sparked his love for music. Ben in 'Alternative Personalities', an occasional series about the more unusual activities of musicians, writes about Vostok 5, an exhibition on people and animals in space put together by Darren Hayman and four other London based musicians, In our lead interview this month Ben speaks to the influential Roy Harper about the first four albums in the digital reissue of his complete back catalogue, his 70th birthday celebrations and his plans for a new album. Our other main interviews this month are with acclaimed American musician John Hiatt about his new album ‘Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns’; seminal electronic act Ladytron about their forthcoming album ‘Gravity the Seducer’ and appearing on ‘The Simpsons’; former Creation Records boss Alan McGee, and poet and lyricist Rick Holland who talks about his collaboration with Brian Eno on Eno’s latest album, ‘Drums Between the Bells’. There are also interviews with former Echo and the Bunnymen bassist Les Pattinson; June Millington, the singer and guitarist with 70’s feminist pioneers Fanny, and rising Liverpool-based guitar/electronica act the Rialto Burns. In our Profiles section there are the final two parts of Jon Rogers’ four part series on New York’s 1970’s No Wave scene; an obituary of Amy Winehouse; an article on French electronic act M83, and a report on a new DVD from Cream drummer Ginger Baker’s 1970’s band Baker Gurvitz Army. There are live reviews of the Ottawa Bluesfest, Paul McCartney in Detroit, a Wickerman Festival warm-up show in Glasgow, Blondie, the Tom Tom Club, Filigar, the Wolfmen and Laura Marling. In our Re: View section, in which our writers look back at albums from the past, there are articles on guitar pop band Hurrah!s 1993 compilation, ‘The Sound of Philadelphia’ and Teenage Fanclub’s 1995 B-sides and rarities collection, ‘Deep Fried Fanclub’. Our Website of the Month is Mel Preston Photographer, the website of a Sheffield photographer. There are also 28 albums and single reviews. We put on-line another 28 reviews in our previous reviews only up-date in July. Thank you to Carl Bookstein, Finn Cargill, Malcolm Carter, Andy Cassidy, Andrew Carver, Tony Gaughan, Ben Howarth, Fiona Hutchings, Richard Lewis, Tara McEvoy, Sarah Maybank, Sarah Mwangi, Spencer Robertshaw, Jon Rogers, Jamie Rowland, Maarten Schiethart, Anthony Strutt, Jeff Thiessen, Lisa Torem and Paul Waller, all of whom contributed articles to this edition of the July reviews up-date. Special thanks to our webmaster Richard Banks. We will be back in late August with another singles reviews up-date and then in September with another new edition. We hope to be running interviews then with Gary Numan, the Go Betweens’ Robert Forster, Jackie Leven, Chris Spedding, Shonen Knife, Wings’ guitarist Henry McCullough, Megan Henwood, Stealing Sheep, Adam Donen, Gagarin, the Repomen and Limbo. Thank you as always for reading, John Clarkson Magazine Editor www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk