It has been a hefty long time since any last update, hopefully now I can start getting back into writing consistent reviews for you all to ignore.
I'm starting off the new year with a reasonably new musical discovery. A chap I met sometime last year in fact, Mr. Duke.
I first met him at the Le Pub, he was sat at a table with his laptop rigged up to the PA pumping out some delicious northern soul and funk. It was at this juncture that I'd mistaken him for the sound guy. Later I was to discover that Duke will DJ at any given chance and DJ well he does too.
That particular night he was playing with his backing band 'The Hoodlum Circus' comprised of my friend 'Dude' on screechy, painful lead guitar, Duke on rhythmn guitar and vocals, some bloke on bass and an Argintinian (spelling) chappy on drums.
Thus commenced their first gig (and first time they'd all seen each other) in over a year, which for the short while was noticable. But as they played on, they got tighter. To be honest I was more completely overwhelmed by The Dude's insane guitar playing. His Fender Jaguar spewing out distorted, broken chunks of ear piercing mess as The Dude spun around in circles, headbutted frets and threw himself around like a madman. It was truly beautiful and can probably never be replicated by anyone else.
I should also point out that Mr. Duke was playing wearing only his batman pants and a pair of socks, but that seems so normal these days.
Since that fateful night I've not only seen the Duke play acoustic sets (sporting a slightly Bob Dylan meets Flaming Lips sort of formula) I've also drummed for him on two occasions.
As previously mentioned also, Duke is a very keen (and talented) DJ who will unfold his MAC and hit the virtual decks at every given moment. This includes venues such as: Le Pub, Newport Chartists (a thrift shop), my kitchen and the bus from Newport to Cardiff. Constantly perfecting mixes between tracks that you haven't heard for years and you will be constantly thanking him for each one he plays (I've seen it happen)
Now onto the new stuff that he's been producing. As some people are aware the Duke has re-located himself out of Cardiff and retreated to the wonderful nowhere of Snowdonia... with nothing more than a couple of shirts and a guitar.
In a very short space of time, he has written, recorded and produced a number of new tracks include some new versions of previous tracks. He has wonderfully blended a traditional acoustic country guitar style to at times melancolie lyrics which can really play on your emotions. By all means, avoid tracks such as 'Dirty Blonde Hair' if you're feeling depressed. However, if you are down... I suggest Great Gatsby, an entertain ditty that comes in both delicious acoustic and nutritious electric guitar depending on your preference.
Once you get through the entire Duke catalogue of songs you'll discover that he enjoys singing about meaningful subjects such as cheese quite frequently, however the lighthearted lyrics of tracks such as Great Gatsby and Peter Beardsley (Duke's ukelele tribute to his favourite footballer) is contrasted beautifully with tracks such as 'Upon a Hill' (about unrequited love, a common country subject) Dirty Blonde Hair (a murder story comprised into a beautifully composed song, available with and without his backing band) and Lonesome.
Some of his tracks feature a variety of female vocalist duo's which is well harmonised and generally very lovely.
Duke seems somehow to capture many influences of artists and bands who I like such as Half Man Half Biscuit (who are arguably at times a country band), Ween (their first country album), Flaming Lips, Filthy Pedro and some other stuff that he paid me to say that I can't remember...
Duke is due to go on tour in March of this year to perform the tracks of his new album. I shan't lie I will be going along with him to a majority of it as not only do I enjoy his shows very much, but I can drive and he can't.
I strongly suggest that you go along to all of the shows, or failing that as many as you can attend. You know that I don't write about stuff I don't like on here (although I do have a hundred cannons review coming up) so you can take my word at the fact that Duke is bloody awesome.
Don't believe me, you can check him out here:
http://www.dukeofcardiff.com/ - for the new stuff and here:
www.myspace.com/mrdukeandthehoodlums - for the older stuff
Compare, contrast, listen and enjoy.
Thursday, 6 January 2011
Sunday, 21 February 2010
Clay Statues last ever gig
My ringing ears are a sure sign that the gig last night was well worth going to. As Geeky from the Nukes announced to us all “Clay Statues is the loudest gig I’ve been to, and I’ve seen Motor head twice”
Now I have never been one to measure just how loud a gig is, but suffice to say it was loud, really, really loud.
We were dropped off in Cardiff town and had to walk the dreaded walk down St. Marys street, past all the skimpy clad women and the aggressive Fred Perry wearing meandertal males who gave the impression that they just wanted to mount the scaffolding of innocent building, strip away their overpriced yet fashionless clothes and throw their own shit at each other.
We entered the door to Submission, which until that night I had only known as ‘the club next to Jason’s house’. We were greeted by the merry no-necked, curly haired Swedish DJ and directed downstairs.
It was quite a shock to transfer from the howling filth of night-life street culture, into the ambient, darkened basement club that was Submission. The black stoned walls felt warm, the candles and innocence were welcoming. The cow skulls wrapped delicately in barbed wire symbolised a place of friendliness and safety, to the well-dressed cultured society of Cardiff’s underground music movement.
We placed our coats in a darkened corner near the bar and slouched down with lagers on immaculate Edwardian couches. As people packed in we found ourselves forever greeting friends and members of the tribe.
Dorian and his unusually small drummer Mavis had brought a fine crowd of large, well dressed, loud voiced men from the valleys. No matter where you stood, you could see and hear large groups of them, howling comical, non-offensive banter at one another.
The crowd were excited, but unlike the rabble that tormented the streets above us, the crowd were controlled and collective.
The first band took to the stage, well...the drummer took to the stage, but the guitarist took to the area just offset the stage to accommodate his wide array of foot-pedals and other contraptions. Aulos from Hereford, a two-part group consisting of one of the most talented drummers I had ever seen and one of the most mental guitarists to be viewed through my eyes. As Harvey white abused his kit with laser sharp precision, Oli Montez casually with his back to the audience fingered his fret board like it was a beautiful woman and slammed at various devices on the floor to make the whole experience louder. Their last track made me very happy indeed, although I had heard of this being done..I’d never seen it live before me... the live, on stage sampling of an original Nintendo Game boy. Fuck did it add to the music, it was awesome!
As a beginner drummer I spent a lot of my time staring at White, trying to absorb his talent through osmosis, instead he dropped one of his sticks, but Montez kindly through it at him, this made me laugh.
Next up, The Nukes. Fair play, I had never seen a band take so long trying to warm up, it felt like hours. Just as you had thought that they were starting, they would stop and abuse the sound guy some more.
An interesting group of dudes who reminded me of a lot of things in a short space of time, Half Man Half Biscuit, Toy Dolls, Misfits, all these things sprung to mind as their beefy vocalist pelted roaring welsh lyrics down the microphone. Phat bass riffs, tidy drumming and a nice sprinkling of moogy-synth goodness provided a platter of moderately aggressive punky deliciousness...sorry my friend is cooking and I’m getting a bit distracted. I’m fairly sure that for the most of it though, their synth player thought he was in Kraftwerk or Trio or something of that nature, dressed all in black, with black nail varnish and a shiny-domed head, nonetheless it was a wonderful sound that isn’t used often enough these days.
Now there was only one band left to play, a band which I had not seen enough of. These dudes were going to do some damage, we all felt it.
If you were an innocent member of the crowd who had never seen them before, you would never in a million years have guessed which duo in the club was actually this band. Dorian always comes across as an all round top dude, nicely spoken, gentle voice, and friendly face. So to see him on stage abusing the shit out of a bass guitar is something else. As for Mavis, well Mavis is just Mavis, wherever he is!
So this was it, a feeling of excitement, passion and sadness hit us all... knowing that the experience we were about to live through would be our last of this kind. I braced myself against a pillar, knowing that at some point it was all going to kick off.
The entirety of everyone squished down around the stage, none of us wanted to miss this. Even Reverend Dread with his old age pains managed to get around and snap some amazing shots throughout the night. (I’ve not seen them yet, but if he took them, they’re amazing)
And so it began, the Clay Statues tore up the place for the first and last time. Dorian’s face was a blend of all things evil, Mavis’ was buried behind a balaclava for some reason (maybe it wasn’t him) Dorian fucked the bass guitar with his mega-hands and churned out some roaring lyrics for us to stomp to. We knew the words but it was always better coming from him, that didn’t prevent him from giving us a chant though.
There was a combination of buzzing energy, happiness and melancholy embraced the crowd as we sang to the Statues.
Between each track or so, Dorian would thank all the fans and supporters they had had over the years, before ripping into another fine track. Each track was amazing, but I for one was waiting for a certain track, and I think everyone else was too...
...then it came, the thick and fast bass rift, the mentalist that is Mavis attacking the drums like an epileptic, the references towards the hounds of knuckle dragging mainstream monsters that loomed the streets above us and Star Wars... you all know it...
DROIDS!
I was cast into a washing machine drum of moshing, throwing myself around, bumping into Filthy, Flappy, Doghouse and the mysterious punk guy who looks like Tyres from Spaced. I took extra care into making sure I elbowed Filthy the most because he’s a bit of a knob (I love you really). When it got a bit much, I took a step back and rested against my pillar, still throwing the occasional elbow into a passing array of unprotected ribs.
And so the night continued much like this, for a brief moment I had to pop outside to make a phone call, and as I returned the Statues were performing their beautiful cover of Mama Mia by Abba. Better than the original I think!
I can’t remember what the last track was, but it was epic, particularly as it resorted in Dorian invading the audience, all of the drummers drumming at once, and a number of the other band members singing into microphones. To mark the absolute end of the Statues, Mavis exploded from behind his drum kit and sent his snare hurtling across the stage. It was collected by Dorian who then proceeded to separate the audience to allow him to bowling ball the snare down the centre of the club. It was then stomped on by a number of helpful crowd members before being returned to the stage. As awesome as I thought this was, a part of me was thinking “I bet that snare was expensive, it would have been nice on my kit” never mind eh?
So there we have it, one of the longest reviews I have ever done. God I loved the Clay Statues, despite the fact Dorian never did play my favourite song (you bastard) it was nice to hear them when I did. Being 21 there are so many bands I here that I would have loved to have seen, but never got the chance... but to have seen these guys feels just as rewarding as when I saw The Cardiacs.
Farewell to you both Dorian and Mavis, the best rhythm / lead setup crammed into one, small setup of a band. There will never be any duo that could possibly replace you (no offence Aulos).
The last thing I would like to add is, shame on anyone who didn’t go to this gig... you missed the loudest, most amazing, painful, ear popping, feedback screaming, bass crunching, valley roaring, rib jabbing, drum smashing, heart breaking experience of all time.
JOWELL
Now I have never been one to measure just how loud a gig is, but suffice to say it was loud, really, really loud.
We were dropped off in Cardiff town and had to walk the dreaded walk down St. Marys street, past all the skimpy clad women and the aggressive Fred Perry wearing meandertal males who gave the impression that they just wanted to mount the scaffolding of innocent building, strip away their overpriced yet fashionless clothes and throw their own shit at each other.
We entered the door to Submission, which until that night I had only known as ‘the club next to Jason’s house’. We were greeted by the merry no-necked, curly haired Swedish DJ and directed downstairs.
It was quite a shock to transfer from the howling filth of night-life street culture, into the ambient, darkened basement club that was Submission. The black stoned walls felt warm, the candles and innocence were welcoming. The cow skulls wrapped delicately in barbed wire symbolised a place of friendliness and safety, to the well-dressed cultured society of Cardiff’s underground music movement.
We placed our coats in a darkened corner near the bar and slouched down with lagers on immaculate Edwardian couches. As people packed in we found ourselves forever greeting friends and members of the tribe.
Dorian and his unusually small drummer Mavis had brought a fine crowd of large, well dressed, loud voiced men from the valleys. No matter where you stood, you could see and hear large groups of them, howling comical, non-offensive banter at one another.
The crowd were excited, but unlike the rabble that tormented the streets above us, the crowd were controlled and collective.
The first band took to the stage, well...the drummer took to the stage, but the guitarist took to the area just offset the stage to accommodate his wide array of foot-pedals and other contraptions. Aulos from Hereford, a two-part group consisting of one of the most talented drummers I had ever seen and one of the most mental guitarists to be viewed through my eyes. As Harvey white abused his kit with laser sharp precision, Oli Montez casually with his back to the audience fingered his fret board like it was a beautiful woman and slammed at various devices on the floor to make the whole experience louder. Their last track made me very happy indeed, although I had heard of this being done..I’d never seen it live before me... the live, on stage sampling of an original Nintendo Game boy. Fuck did it add to the music, it was awesome!
As a beginner drummer I spent a lot of my time staring at White, trying to absorb his talent through osmosis, instead he dropped one of his sticks, but Montez kindly through it at him, this made me laugh.
Next up, The Nukes. Fair play, I had never seen a band take so long trying to warm up, it felt like hours. Just as you had thought that they were starting, they would stop and abuse the sound guy some more.
An interesting group of dudes who reminded me of a lot of things in a short space of time, Half Man Half Biscuit, Toy Dolls, Misfits, all these things sprung to mind as their beefy vocalist pelted roaring welsh lyrics down the microphone. Phat bass riffs, tidy drumming and a nice sprinkling of moogy-synth goodness provided a platter of moderately aggressive punky deliciousness...sorry my friend is cooking and I’m getting a bit distracted. I’m fairly sure that for the most of it though, their synth player thought he was in Kraftwerk or Trio or something of that nature, dressed all in black, with black nail varnish and a shiny-domed head, nonetheless it was a wonderful sound that isn’t used often enough these days.
Now there was only one band left to play, a band which I had not seen enough of. These dudes were going to do some damage, we all felt it.
If you were an innocent member of the crowd who had never seen them before, you would never in a million years have guessed which duo in the club was actually this band. Dorian always comes across as an all round top dude, nicely spoken, gentle voice, and friendly face. So to see him on stage abusing the shit out of a bass guitar is something else. As for Mavis, well Mavis is just Mavis, wherever he is!
So this was it, a feeling of excitement, passion and sadness hit us all... knowing that the experience we were about to live through would be our last of this kind. I braced myself against a pillar, knowing that at some point it was all going to kick off.
The entirety of everyone squished down around the stage, none of us wanted to miss this. Even Reverend Dread with his old age pains managed to get around and snap some amazing shots throughout the night. (I’ve not seen them yet, but if he took them, they’re amazing)
And so it began, the Clay Statues tore up the place for the first and last time. Dorian’s face was a blend of all things evil, Mavis’ was buried behind a balaclava for some reason (maybe it wasn’t him) Dorian fucked the bass guitar with his mega-hands and churned out some roaring lyrics for us to stomp to. We knew the words but it was always better coming from him, that didn’t prevent him from giving us a chant though.
There was a combination of buzzing energy, happiness and melancholy embraced the crowd as we sang to the Statues.
Between each track or so, Dorian would thank all the fans and supporters they had had over the years, before ripping into another fine track. Each track was amazing, but I for one was waiting for a certain track, and I think everyone else was too...
...then it came, the thick and fast bass rift, the mentalist that is Mavis attacking the drums like an epileptic, the references towards the hounds of knuckle dragging mainstream monsters that loomed the streets above us and Star Wars... you all know it...
DROIDS!
I was cast into a washing machine drum of moshing, throwing myself around, bumping into Filthy, Flappy, Doghouse and the mysterious punk guy who looks like Tyres from Spaced. I took extra care into making sure I elbowed Filthy the most because he’s a bit of a knob (I love you really). When it got a bit much, I took a step back and rested against my pillar, still throwing the occasional elbow into a passing array of unprotected ribs.
And so the night continued much like this, for a brief moment I had to pop outside to make a phone call, and as I returned the Statues were performing their beautiful cover of Mama Mia by Abba. Better than the original I think!
I can’t remember what the last track was, but it was epic, particularly as it resorted in Dorian invading the audience, all of the drummers drumming at once, and a number of the other band members singing into microphones. To mark the absolute end of the Statues, Mavis exploded from behind his drum kit and sent his snare hurtling across the stage. It was collected by Dorian who then proceeded to separate the audience to allow him to bowling ball the snare down the centre of the club. It was then stomped on by a number of helpful crowd members before being returned to the stage. As awesome as I thought this was, a part of me was thinking “I bet that snare was expensive, it would have been nice on my kit” never mind eh?
So there we have it, one of the longest reviews I have ever done. God I loved the Clay Statues, despite the fact Dorian never did play my favourite song (you bastard) it was nice to hear them when I did. Being 21 there are so many bands I here that I would have loved to have seen, but never got the chance... but to have seen these guys feels just as rewarding as when I saw The Cardiacs.
Farewell to you both Dorian and Mavis, the best rhythm / lead setup crammed into one, small setup of a band. There will never be any duo that could possibly replace you (no offence Aulos).
The last thing I would like to add is, shame on anyone who didn’t go to this gig... you missed the loudest, most amazing, painful, ear popping, feedback screaming, bass crunching, valley roaring, rib jabbing, drum smashing, heart breaking experience of all time.
JOWELL
Saturday, 26 December 2009
Check this guy out
Cardiff's number one independant music fanatic, Jason Johan-Flapsandwich...
http://flapsandwich.blogspot.com/
Never sleeping, always working... to bring the underground sound to the ears of the eagerly awaiting masses. Jason's idiosyncratic & erratic management tactics are far from convention...with bankruptcy an easy option and the climb to success growing increasingly difficult Jason will not give up!!
He's a part of Sicknote, He's a part of Tianaman, he's his own man recording his own banging tracks... he's in your homes, he's on your TV screens.. I'll stop now before I sing too much Red Right Hand (A cracking Nick Cave & The Badseeds track that you must listen to NOW!)
This man needs and deserves our support, there are many charities out there that do good.. and although he is no charity..he does do good and that can be easily condoned!
Wales has a massive musical movement that is constantly flowing and this man is in the middle of it all, conducting it with one brisk wave of his curly, swedish locks...
PRAISE you FLAPPY, PRAISE your WORK! KEEP IT UP - Sounds Incorporated is proud to have you in it...deep,deep within it.... mmmm, feels good!
http://flapsandwich.blogspot.com/
Never sleeping, always working... to bring the underground sound to the ears of the eagerly awaiting masses. Jason's idiosyncratic & erratic management tactics are far from convention...with bankruptcy an easy option and the climb to success growing increasingly difficult Jason will not give up!!
He's a part of Sicknote, He's a part of Tianaman, he's his own man recording his own banging tracks... he's in your homes, he's on your TV screens.. I'll stop now before I sing too much Red Right Hand (A cracking Nick Cave & The Badseeds track that you must listen to NOW!)
This man needs and deserves our support, there are many charities out there that do good.. and although he is no charity..he does do good and that can be easily condoned!
Wales has a massive musical movement that is constantly flowing and this man is in the middle of it all, conducting it with one brisk wave of his curly, swedish locks...
PRAISE you FLAPPY, PRAISE your WORK! KEEP IT UP - Sounds Incorporated is proud to have you in it...deep,deep within it.... mmmm, feels good!
Wednesday, 23 December 2009
Sicknote's Christmas Submission
Suffice to say... just when you think that they could not get anymore peculiar than they already are... They do.
I have never taken drugs but I felt like I was going on some weird trip when watching this video combined with their Christmas track!
ENJOY
PS : Stay tuned for tomorrow's Sounds Inc. Christmas special V/LOG!!!!!
I have never taken drugs but I felt like I was going on some weird trip when watching this video combined with their Christmas track!
ENJOY
PS : Stay tuned for tomorrow's Sounds Inc. Christmas special V/LOG!!!!!
Saturday, 14 November 2009
Sounds Incorporated Reviews Sicknote
Finally, after months of serious delay our new Vlog is here... ENJOY!
Sunday, 13 September 2009
The completion is almost complete
For those of you who didn't know (which will be everyone with the exception of Flapsandwich from Sicknote) Sounds Incorporated was intented to be portrayed through the medium of a short video, uploaded onto Youtube and annoyingly scattered about the likes of Facebook.
However, during a logistical error the Sounds Incorporated camera charger went amiss!
Fortunatley children, normality can be resumed. For the charger has re-emerged, entact... 'Tis a glorious day.
Suffice to say, the team at Sounds Inc. Shall be returing to its original plan of medium-quality semi-revised poorly written video entries.
We hope you look forward to them with baited breath,
However, during a logistical error the Sounds Incorporated camera charger went amiss!
Fortunatley children, normality can be resumed. For the charger has re-emerged, entact... 'Tis a glorious day.
Suffice to say, the team at Sounds Inc. Shall be returing to its original plan of medium-quality semi-revised poorly written video entries.
We hope you look forward to them with baited breath,
Tuesday, 8 September 2009
A sad, sad sale...
Sounds Incorporated recently inherited a vehicle that was intended to be restored to become the Sounds Inc. mascot!
Unfortunatley, the MOT revealed far more expense was required than first thought, so sadly she is up for sale. Hopefully she will be bought by someone with the finances available to restore her.
Here is the auction:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140344748312
Peace.
Unfortunatley, the MOT revealed far more expense was required than first thought, so sadly she is up for sale. Hopefully she will be bought by someone with the finances available to restore her.
Here is the auction:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140344748312
Peace.
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