Minko - Creature (Songs 5-8)

The second in a planned series of six EPs, 'Creature' follows on from its predecessor 'Sybil of Delphi' and provides the next songs from singer songwriter Minko. Initially exploring electronic music production, she decided a change was in order and moved from the hustle and bustle of London to the relative peace and quiet of Cornwall, where she surrounded herself with acoustic instruments and began to write and record. Over fifty songs were created, and 'Creature' is the collection of songs 5 to 8.

The opening title track is a live recording, featuring Steven Havenhand (late 80's Pulp guitarist) and Nick Duffy (The Lilac Time joint-founder) who provide assistance with guitars. Minko's layered vocals create a wide, spacious sound over the strums and picks, and is particularly enjoyable and evocative during the stretched interjections between verses.

Once the waltzing rhythm begins playing on the Fender Rhodes organ, the second track's title - 'Monsieur Zola's Amazing Carousel' - makes perfect sense: the melodica's involvement only serving to enhance the fairground-esque sound. Lyrically the song discusses how, in modern life, perhaps we have lost sight of life's meaning and have forgotten the many great steps and achievements that have brought us to where we are today. Name-dropping past philosphers, poets and writers, we are brought to the final lines which bring together the words and music beautifully:

 "If 'the child is father of the man',
 What would our ancestors say?
 If Freud and Buddha sat together on the merry-go-round
 And put the brakes on today?"

By contrast, third track 'Child Of Four' is lyrically sparse, but is no less indicative of Minko's often-haunting arrangements. The plink-plunk of the kalimba may continue the sense of innocence that the title suggests, but the rest of the instruments are more concerned with evoking a constant, but subtle, melancholy through a steady stream of repetition. Despite this, the song holds interest throughout until a thumb flicks the final note.

'The Owl Song' finishes the EP mostly as an instrumental, with Minko's voice present in just a few words and "da-da-da"s, but a story is still told nevertheless.

Compared to the previous release, 'Creature' is a darker collection of songs that sounds like it has been carefully nurtured amongst a broad range of musical influences. With her captivating voice and obvious skill at combining instruments to compliment her desired theme, Minko has brought us a mesmerising record.



YouTube: www.youtube.com/felinecreature
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Minko/185304241493861
Twitter: twitter.com/minkomusic
BandCamp: minko.bandcamp.com
SoundCloud: soundcloud.com/minkomusic
Official: minkomusic.wordpress.com/

"All music is folk music. I ain't never heard a horse sing a song." - Louis Armstrong

Lambs & Wolves - Afraid Enough EP

A year since their last release, Lambs & Wolves return with their new EP 'Afraid Enough'. With this latest collection of four tracks the Waldshut, Germany-based fourpiece haven't strayed too far from the sounds of their previous work. The arrangements remain mostly light with a pleasing economy of instrumentation that, when coupled with the hushed and delicate vocals, provide us with a sound of subtle precision that's not often heard.

'Canada' is the stand-out track, quietly building through guitar strums, clarinet, and minimal piano to a glorious final quarter, whilst opener 'July's half-spoken half-sung lyrics provide a smart introduction to Lambs & Wolves' style.

'Lisa's Dream Of Getting Lost' serves us a subdued gleefulness in the drum's rhythm that sits behind a sad story of desperate escape from the past, echoed in the final whispered words. And final song 'The Fall', though the shortest of the tracks, eases us to the end of the EP with peaks and troughs of vocal harmony, piano, and clarinet.

'Afraid Enough', with its four songs of beautiful acoustic folk-pop, shows us a band that have found their style, and are now well into perfecting it.



Bandcamp: lambswolves.bandcamp.com
Facebook: facebook.com/lambsandwolves

"I look at my clarinet sometimes and I think, I wonder what's going to come out of there tonight? You never know." - Acker Bilk 

Discuss: Recordings of Concerts

Listening to recordings of concerts is pointless at best and, more often than not, disappointing.

Discuss.

As Glastonbury Festival comes to an end today, and the BBC's live coverage with it, Radio 1 listeners shall no doubt be subjected to several hours' worth of recorded 'highlights' used to remind everyone just how great the experience was. And that's where my main complaint lies. A festival such as Glastonbury (and no, I haven't been) is all about the atmosphere formed within the endless crowds of music lovers. You don't need any qualifications to know that, generally, the musical performances themselves aren't always the best: there are a lot of out-of-breath-vocals, a lot of "let the crowd sing this bit" cop-outs, a lot of points where the note isn't quite hit.

I should just clarify that I do see the attraction and the enjoyment of gigs such as these. Music always has been for performing in a live environment, and should continue to be as such. The lack of production and audio touch-ups that might otherwise clean up a studio recording means the band are at their rawest, giving us a chance to assess their talents whilst they strut their stuff on the stage in front of us. It can be frenetic, magical, emotional, awe-inspiring...

But listening to a recording of the event is immensely anticlimactic. All the visual and atmospheric wonders of that moment are stripped away to leave a track that doesn't quite evoke the same excitement. Whilst, yes, music is an aural pleasure and perhaps nothing else is ordinarily necessary, a festival recording can rarely stand on its own with any real confidence.

Oh, but there are exceptions of course. Within my music collection lies concert recordings where bands have performed fantastic covers, or musicians have approached one of their owns songs in an entirely different way. These are worthy tracks: providing something that I would not otherwise be able to enjoy. But these exceptions are sadly few and far between.

And so tomorrow, when the BBC slots in another "classic set from the weekend" into the radio schedule, I'll be preparing myself to be disappointed.

Zords - Hollywood

Who doesn't love a bit of synth, right? Oh... you don't? Well, you're wrong.

Describing themselves as, "two brothers and a friend [who] found themselves in a basement filled with old synthesizers and some guitars and figured something had to be done about it," Ontario-based electro-rock band Zords have just released their second song. With an electronic drum-loop and minimal guitar providing the beat and a slowly pulsating synth drone giving the track a wider sound, 'Hollywood' succeeds at stepping into the light a little more eagerly than its somewhat darker predecessor 'Dungeon Master'.

Whether literal or metaphorical in meaning, 'Hollywood's lyrical story remains the same with a tale of lost hope and diminishing faith when once the dreams were ambitious.

"All you wanted was to make it big
Now your dreams have flown out to the sea"

With obvious nods to some great 1980s synthpop whilst keeping themselves away from plainly replicating what others have done before, 'Hollywood' shows that Zords have much more to share with us.



Bandcamp: zords.bandcamp.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/zordsband
Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/zords

"I turned the volume up to 10 and I hit one chord, and I said, I'm in love." - Ace Frehley

The Singing Sheep - Baa-Baa Black Sheep

When Richard Branson's Virgin Records made its first fortune with the million-selling 'Tubular Bells' from Mike Oldfield, the opportunities for the next step must have been countless, astonishing, heaven-sent...

Apparently not.

The company was still seen as being too small compared to the big names, so signing other groups was proving difficult.

Fortunately for my childhood, Branson made an interesting decision when his auntie, Claire Hoare, told him about the singing talents of one of her sheep. A crew of sound engineers went sent to her flock in Norfolk, and began recording the sheep in question - plus a collection of other farmyard animals.

Via the wonders of 80's technology, the baas, clucks, quacks, and moos were pitch-altered and spliced together to form a single that was released just in time for Christmas: "Baa-Baa Black Sheep". Beginning as just an ovine version of the nursery-rhyme, it follows a chicken-based crescendo with the inclusion of drums and synth and then, obviously, throws in a portion of Tchaikovsky's '1812 Overture' for good measure.

Oh, and the B-side? "Flock Around The Clock"

When the record was released in 1982, I was still three months away from being born. However, it somehow avoided being thrown out once the novelty had worn off, and so I had the pleasure of listening to it many times during my early years. I recall at least one member of my family finding the song "a little creepy".

I still own the record which remains in surprisingly good condition, especially considering my clumsy ways with the record player's stylus when I was a kid. Sadly I no longer have a turntable on which to play it, but YouTube (as always) provides the audio of my past.

"Baa" - A Sheep

Your Gentlemen - Dead, Almost

I'm a sucker for progressive tracks. I love that gradual build-up of instrumental layers as each brings a wider sound to it, until the crescendo hits its peak and the vocal comes in. Perhaps it is a clichéd way to approach song writing: possibly the outcome of working backwards from the chorus and trying to find a "way in". Regardless, I'm yet to tire of it and there are still bands out there that are doing it very well. New Jersey group Your Gentlemen are one of them.

Their first LP, 'Sincerely', provides a bountiful eleven songs of pleasing indie rock filled with great guitar effects, expansive moments of synth, and yearning vocals, but it's the progressive opening track 'Dead, Almost' that keeps me returning. Whilst some of the other tunes may offer more thematically and lyrically - and may well be "better" songs - 'Dead, Almost' is an excellent start to the album. The minimal guitar and light background drone carries us through to the first words, where the instruments then drop back a little, preparing themselves for another go when they will be met by the drums and cymbals.

The song peaks at just the right moment - fifteen seconds before the end - leaving just the appropriate amount of time to wind down to the final strum, and avoiding any sense of aimlessness that could occur with a lengthy diminuendo.

'Sincerely', as a whole, is begging for a listen with its impressive songs, but 'Dead, Almost' stands out especially as a fabulous beginning to Your Gentlemen's story.

If you visit their BandCamp page, you can still download for free their previous release 'Play Their Songs': a five-track EP which includes two songs from the album.


BandCamp: yourgentlemen.bandcamp.com
Facebook: facebook.com/yrgentlemen
Twitter: twitter.com/yourgentlemen
Official: yrgentlemen.com

"I just wrote one song at a time. Kinda like an alcoholic: One day at a time" - Neil Young

Underwater Track Team - Underwater Track Team

Californian six-piece Underwater Track Team are a folk-pop band that proudly display their influences and are keen to draw upon them (Mumford & Sons, The Lumineers, Fleet Foxes, etc.), whilst still clearly trying to retain their individuality. Their self-titled debut EP, released this month, has been made available to download for free via their BandCamp page and offers five songs of plucky guitar and tight vocal harmonies.

Opening track 'The Call' is the band's elected single, and begins with the sounds of the beach before the strings begin to be strummed in the familiar folksy style. Soon accompanied by "oohs" and "aahs" and a drum-kit eager to be heard, the lyrics then begin to guide us down a carefree road of positive self-confidence.

"We're on the rise, You can't deny,
We hear the call.
We are the kings tonight,
We are the queens tonight."

Even without the shoreline and seagull samples, 'The Call' has a wonderful summery vibe to it that should be applauded for evoking such feelings during a cold and miserable March day.

The watery theme continues into the second track, 'Waves', which talks of fear and making mistakes - likening all the worries to the heavy pressure of water. Yet this song is more uplifting than might appear, and the final lines tell us why:

"I never know how far I'm going,
I only know how far I've come.
All the things that have been done,
To make me strong."

As we hit the middle of the EP there's a brief change of style. 'Set Me On Fire', with its smooth-jazz attitude, lounge-bar aura, and female lead vocal, certainly sticks out amongst its neighbouring folk-fests. Yet, lodged between them all as it is, the track provides a healthy and welcome contrast, and also proves that Underwater Track Team are no one-trick pony.

As we approach the end of the record, penultimate track 'It Won't Leave' is back in familiar territory and yet is almost certainly a high point of the EP. The haunting harmonies - particularly on the frequent "oohs" - are spine-tinglingly good (echoed, coincidentally, in the lyrics themselves) and when the piano hammers its way into the second half, the whole tune becomes a glorious example of what this band can do.

The EP ends with 'Keep The Light On'. Although perhaps a less adventurous track than the others, it's swaying rhythm and final drum beats bring the record to a satisfyingly comfortable close.

Recorded and produced in a way that keeps their sound live and untainted, this debut release has some fantastic highlights that are worthy of exploring.


BandCamp: underwatertrackteam.bandcamp.com
Twitter: twitter.com/UnderwaterTrack
Facebook: www.facebook.com/UnderwaterTrackTeam

"Being able to still make records is a privilege. I don't take it casually" - Tori Amos