welcome and farewell

A welcome and a farewell..

Firstly, I would like to welcome Keith Hicc and UK Dragon’s first child – Cyan Star Louise Norman to the world.

With parents like you have Cyan, I look forward to hearing your musical experiments in time to come.

And on a sadder note, I heard from my ex work colleague, Big Kev 20022002 the other day that somebody I used to work with some years back, John Hooley has died.

Now I worked along John Hooley from 1994 to 1998 and knew him for four years before 1990 to 1994, and I’ll be blunt here and found him a complete git to work alongside.

But I was sorry to hear of his demise.

Keep Riding, Big Boy up there in the sky.

mongolfier brothers review

The Mongolifer Brothers – All My Bad Thoughts

(Vespertine and Son Ltd – www.vespertineandson.com)

Do you like your records full of loud guitars, harrowing lyrics which make you want to pump your hand on your heart and sing along with them when you hear them play live?

Do you like your records to allow you to dance all over your bedroom or local nightclub?

Well, sorry you have to cut to the wrong place with this release.

The Mongolfier Brothers are Roger Quigley and Mark Tranmer, who met more years than either them or me would care to remember (1997 or 1998) but over the years slowly but surely have produced a few albums of gentle charm that has been described on a couple of occasions like a nervous Divine Comedy if they liked exploring soap operas of people’s lives"

Both of their first albums "15 Stars" (1999) and "The World is Flat" (2002) are both albums which contain a lot within their gentle structure, which borders on more than a few occasions close to a happier version of the Durruti Column be it a better description.

Which possibly explains why the new album is quite a step forward.

I have nothing against either of their first two albums, and I do really like both of them, but "All my Bad Thoughts" is a very different album indeed.

It doesn’t start including lots of ridiculous guitar solos and stuff, but there is often a heightened melodic tension in the music here for example on the single from the album "Journey’s End", where it takes a minute for Roger to start singing but the tension only seems to move more and more forward slowly, and by the time the almost 9 minute tracks has finished, it actually feels like it has gone on for almost half a hour such is the delicate beauty here.

I am not going to make any bones about the album being everybody’s taste. This is an album for listening to alone at the night, with the curtains wide open and while you watch the stars.
It is an album that deserves to be listened to over and over as the message it delivers does not come straight away. It is an album that is full of images that stick in your head of break-ups and make-ups, lonely walks along the sea front and stars that seem to twinkle in and out of sight like passing airplanes and bad thoughts that may springle in and out of the lyrics, but never it’s over, it’s ended, it’s finished or it’s done.

Recommended.

Isobel Heyworth Review

Isobel Heyworth "Close your eyes"

(Available through http://www.isobelheyworth.com)

I think my good buddy Conor at Angry Left Wing Mofo perfectly summed Isobel Heyworth’s last CD "On the Back of an envelope as "Look it’s good, buy it"

As far as I am aware Conor hasn’t heard the new CD yet, but I would be interested in reading his options as this as it is a very different album for Isobel indeed.

On her first album "On the back of a envelope", this was mostly just Isobel backed by her acoustic guitar which was perhaps simplist but carried so much charm, it has been listened to be believed how bloody good it actually was.

This was a young lady who for example, I first discovered playing in a little acoustic type festival at one of Manchester’s crappist venues "The Roadhouse" which usually owning to the fact that most people who go there are ignorant sods completely drowns out the noise of the more acoustic based artists and Isobel’s perhaps slightly Nick Drake based singer songwriting almost completely shut them up in one song.

Impressive indeed.

On this second album however in contrast to that night at the Roadhouse and also her first album, which was just her by herself, this album showcases for about half of the album additional backing from a piano, double bass and drums.

Normally, when you heard artists try and do things like this, it can either sink or swim the artist, to Isobel’s credit, they add rather than take away in particular on tracks like "God only Knows" or "Just for you" – both of which were originally released on "Back off.." but here sound very different and almost pop-like be it for a better word, but not brainless pop you would hear on Pop Idol.

This is pop music who like their music to be intelligent, not something that would insult their intelligent after a listen or two.

Isobel’s music is a music that although does sometimes show it’s roots through gentle throughtful pop like on the examples given above, her real strength for me is the reflective side of her music.

This is shown in equal doses on the album which for me are often deeper and often melodic and carry a deeper sense of loss including new songs like "My Best Dress", which carries an amazing couple of lines halfway through the song (which I am sure Isobel won’t mind me quoting)

"Sensations softly calling me over hill dale and out to sea /
One foot out of the door I turn to see under the arches are you calling me /
And if love don’t call me, then I’m gone and I got my best red dress on /"

This is deep song writing indeed and it makes you wonder why the hell isn’t she a huge star by now.

Highly recommended indeed.

evergreen days reviews

Evergreen Days – "If I only knew the answer"

Evergreen Days – "Something we once had"

(Both released viva My Secret Recordings)

Discovered through Robots and Electronic Brains’s last issue, My Secret Recordings is a independent, independent label run from Sweden by Martin who releases CD Singles in incredibly limited runs off 30 to 50 I seem to recall.

Evergreen Days aka Emile Berg was probably my initial favourite from this sampler possibly because her music her incredibly lo fi recordings reminded me of two old Setting Sun favourites merged together namely Thrill Racer and Laura Watling, which makes her a natural for Setting Sun to interview.

The interview has now being completed and will be posted in due course, (am currently having formatting problems with the html which is causing delays) but in the meantime I thought it was only fair I dropped a quick line to recommend both of these Eps.

Out of the two, the first EP "If I only knew the answer" is the rougher and the less smooth off the two, but it is well worth listening to and has a couple of excellent tracks which I can personally recommend namely a brilliant instrumental first track "Happy Home" and "Fairytales" and "Autumn Rain" both of which carry a really sweet Autumn like feel to it.
Recommended.

The second EP "Something we once had" in contrast is a much smoother recorded EP but still contains the lo fi nature which made the first EP such a joy to listen, but it works as the stronger of the tracks on the EP namely "Tonight" and "She can’t sleep" – both seem to show Emile coming closer to what she wants to truly say and she carries it off with some style.
Recommended.

Track them down (and make sure you read the interview which will be online soon -

http://www.geocities.com/aen1mpo/ever.html soon)

Hot Roddy Review

Hot Roddy – "Pessimism"

Available on here’s my business card records)

(www.hotroddy.com)

Hot Roddy for those not in the know is the alter ego of Same Actor aka Chris Cook in Brighton who Setting Sun interviewed fairly recently.

Hot Roddy perhaps in contrast to Same Actor is a much looser project and possibly more slight commercial in contrast to his darker leanings as Same Actor.

However, this does not make Hot Roddy anywhere less a appealing prospect.
Far from it. This three track single "Pessimism" released on HMBC Records is a excellent little single, little being the operative word as it is that small you could literally fit it into your bus card or your credit card folder. Yes, that small but yet within that tiny frame lies a three track single, which clocks in just under 5 minutes of music.

The first track the title track "Pessimism" is the full length track off the three which is kind of like Same Actor expect possibly more commercial, but cool still… However, the second and third tracks "Corks" and "Norris McWhirter" are the real surprises of the three, with both tracks seemingly finishing before they actually get going clocking in under a minute each, but done so quickly you actually find yourself playing them again just to try and work out whether you missed anything in the first place.

Very, very clever. An excellent EP / Single / God only knows what.

Mongolfier brothers review

Mongolfier Brothers,
The Otto Show,
The Fountain,
Ryna

Cornerhouse 14/10/2005

Who’d believed it? The Cornerhouse, Manchester’s resident arthouse and experimental cinema / art gallery turns 20!

Although I was a little bit too young to be going when it opened in 1985 (I was 13!), I have been in there enough times over the past ten years or so to be generally shocked when I heard this.

And ontop of that, a free gig in one of their galleries by The Mongolfier Brothers.

To cut a long story short, I first Met Mark Tranmer, the guitarist of the Monogolfier Brothers many, many years back in 1999 upon the release of their debut album “17 Stars”, where I was hooked by their mournful songs which combined be it for a better description The Durruti Column with a Salford like Lou Reed.

Impressed over the following few years, I picked up some of their sub projects, several of Mark’s instrumental Gnac albums and also some other stuff under his own name and some stuff with Ian Masters (Ex Pale Saints) under the name of Wing Disc, all carrying the delicate nature that haunts The Durruti Column at their very best.

After the release of the second Mongolfier Brothers’s CD” The World is Flat” back in 2002, all seemed to go quiet with the Mongolfier Brothers despite the fact that both Mark and the vocalist Roger both seemed busy with other projects until I bumped into Mark oddly enough just outside the Cornerhouse a few days before this, where he told me about this free gig at the Cornerhouse.

Keen – I popped into the Cornerhouse and grabbed a couple of free tickets and had a argument with one of their attendants who insisted the gig was not on (Despite the fact I told her I had just seen the guitarist outside a few minutes before).

Ryna were first on – a three piece band that had a lead singer that looked like Blondie, but had a voice that soared like Dolores O’Riordan out of the Cranberries back when they were any good.

Sadly, they only played 3 songs which shocked me and my friends as we felt they finished just when they were just getting going, and left us all wishing we could hear more.

Next up, were The Fountain who I was informed by Richard, the monogolfier’s manager that this band contained members of the staff off the Cornerhouse.

The Fountain although listed on their website as a four piece on their website only played as a three piece band that night with a girl vocalist who also played bass, a guitarist and a drummer who had a pretty early P.J.Harvey sort of sound, but which certainly had both of my friends thinking it was superb.

This was highlighted by what I felt was probably their best song “You’re Next”, which started off with just the singer playing her bass before eventually the band kicked in and rocked bloody hard.

Pretty good stuff none the less and certainly worth checking out, though certainly a completely different support act for the Mongolfier Brothers than I would have imagined.

Next up was “The Otto Show” aka. Otto Smart, who is the regular second guitarist for the Mongolfier Brothers’s live show solo.

I’d seen Otto support both Gnac and The Mongolfier Brothers a few things over the years
I know from conversations with both Mark and Richard that they had tried for a number of years to try and get some of Otto’s stuff released unsuceesfully before the release of this year’s album, which is a major crime considering the amount of shite singer songwriters that exist nowadays (I don’t need to list names there, but believe me there is tons).

On a personal level, I’d had always found Otto’s songs charming and touching, perhaps in a way
A Badly Drawn Boy you could like expect sung by Robert Wyatt but what was particularly pleasing here was the fact that in contrast to some performances I had seen Otto play in the past where if anything he looked a little nervous, he was really confident and drew a good reaction from the audience for a set that was full of high and lows and drama within his songs, which in some cases could have made good short novels.

Excellent .

Hightlighting the night was the Mongolfier Brothers who chose to mostly play tracks off their new album “All my Bad Thoughts”, which was a very different beast in contrast to both of their previous albums.

While both of their previous albums had a element of thoughtful, delicate poetry played against almost Spring like like walking across grassfields, the new material on offer here were certainly much more darker and reflective with Mark in contrast to earlier Mongolfier Brothers live shows appearing playing live Piano on a number of tracks like the current single “Journeys’s End”, which over it’s almost nine minute length had a really melodical feel to it, where Roger’s vocals didn’t seem to dominate the track as much as you may think, which allowed the music much more scope to breathe and allow the Piano to really get under your skin.

This trick was also reflected in other new tracks like “Koffee Pot” (which is a café that we were informed exists just off Oldham Road) and “All my bad thoughts”) which was mini soap operas in themselves which worked so well certainly in the case of “Koffee Pot”, by the end of the song it actually felt like I had known the song for years even though that was the first time I had heard it, and it only dawned on by the end of the gig that they had only played two or three songs from their entine back catalogue.

Confidence or what?

Yes and fair play to the lads completely.
Without even hearing the album (which I have since and I can confirm this now), I knew I had just witnessed something special, which was something far removed from their first two albums.

Gig of the year for me?

Probably not, but bloody close.

F***ing amazing.

(Now buy the album honestly)

Caroline Martin Review

Caroline Martin
Rose Kemp,
Ed Cottram

Bowling Green, August 24th 2005

To say we had some fun finding this place was a understatement. It said on the advert, Grafton Street, Manchester but I knew from looking at the A – Z there was about 4 of them, so that didn’t help. I rang up the pub abnd was told it was on a road just off the MRI (Accident and Emergency) and we must had walked up and down there three or four times before we found the place hidden away in some dark corner almost literally.

We had come to see Caroline Martin, who Setting Sun has championed for more years than either of us had cared to remember, so by the time we sat down I was really hoping the gig would be worth the wait.

And – oh it was.
First up was a young (ish) singer songwriter who I think was from Manchester called Ed Cottram, who in the space of a just few songs bewitched the crowd with a series of hushed, half whispered songs that certainly bought to mind, Nick Drake which I know would get some people saying oh god not another one but when they are as well done as this, it really doesn’t matter.

Lovely.

Next up was Caroline Martin, who nearly caught everybody out when her voilonist popped up and played a haunting number by himself, which I know for a fact caught out about four or five people (including us) out in the audience, which in a way made sense of the dark tunes Caroline followed up with straight afterwards.

Playing a mixture of both old (From last year’s “I had a hundred reasons to stay by the fire”) and new tracks (which I think were recorded quite recently for a Radio One Session among several new tracks and two surprising cover versions (Liberty X’s Just a little and The Undertones’s “Teenage Kicks” which she dedicated to John Peel), Caroline’s set was even more stripped down from her already stripped down album and previously released Eps, which was given some excellent backing from the violinist and when Caroline played solo, her Leonard Cohen style songwriting (My friend’s opnion which I sort off agreed with) reakky shibem with the single off “I had..” Monn really shining in particular.

Excellent stuff and a extra brownie point too the respectful crowd too.

Rose Kemp, who headlined the night was the daughter of a few folk legends (I was a bit too drunk by this point to remember who exactly), which then explained in contrast to both Ed and Caroline, why she chose to play mostly electric, a one woman show with plenty of powerful screaming which certainly bordered on PJ Harvey in places, but as the set went on went increasingly wider and wilder dare I say and used the electronical backing tapes to mesh into something very different indeed.

Good stuff, all round and well worth the walk all over the streets and back streets and more back streets.
Well, almost but a good, all round gig and I discovered two good new artists – both of which are certainly worth checking out

The Lodger Review

The Lodger – "Watching / Not so Fast"

Sometimes when you listen to some bands / artists, you always find yourself enjoying the B Sides of their singles more rather than the actual A Sides (Main tracks).

Leeds based three piece band The Lodger are one example. Earlier on this year, I reviewed their first single on "Dance to the Radio" and made particular if my memory is correct to the fact I preferred both of the B Sides to the A Side or main track.

Strangely enough I found it exactly the same with this single, their second official single on doubledragonmusic (www.doubledragonmusic.com) and although the A Side is okay, although perhaps a bit too close to Bloc Party / Paul Weller for my liking, again it is the B Side "Not so Fast" which I think again is the much better track with the title summing it up perfectly as not as fast, but carrying twice as much as much impact.

DIH review

Keith Hicc found this review recently posted on the net of a our DIH album" Forever", which I haven’t seen previously… Can’t make up my mind if it is a slagging off or not.. strangley enough….

***
D.I.H. - Forever CDR“Anybody mad enough to want a copy can order it through me: aen1mpo@yahoo.co.uk he says in the note stuffed into the sleeve. This is hardly encouraging but nothing like as bad as the letter I just screwed up and threw at the bin (I missed) which went “personally I could do away with all the tracks except #2 and the fade-out on that one is crap. The whole lot needs re-recording” I agreed but I’ll spare you the review. D.I.H. go for clanking, too-quiet backing to partial poetry. Fragments of spoken rhyme are delivered over the sound of the Tardis materialising on Metal Word 173 or the tinkling of the wind playing with the fronds of a pottery palm tree. I find it strangely relaxing.