I can't believe too many of you cast your mind back to the days of lockdown any more than you have to and asking you to bring to mind reviews I wrote back then is a bit much, so I'll remind you.

How people let alone artists reacted to the circumstances offers up a very diverse set of responses: for some music making was a helpful therapy. This favoured solo artists in terms of actually managing it & in particular those with adequate home recording equipment to share their work to a decent standard. The internet permitted some degrees of collaboration & building tracks, but ultimately the mood and the constraints tended towards quieter, reflective, simpler songs: if any.

Satsangi were reviewed several times as fortunately two members co-habited the same bubble & they used technology to augment such songs. Nevertheless, the outcome was definitely songs which would never have been created without COVID19 and which really didn't reflect the power of Satsangi live, nor I suspect anything like the sort of record they probably had in mind to follow up 2018's superb ‘You Saw Something'.

Now, with new album ‘Year of the Pig', they are back on musical track and confident enough to revisit the tracks from those strange years and see whether they can be reworked into full band arrangements: and so there is that element in the tracklist (the song names have been altered slightly to acknowledge the reimaginings) alongside more recent compositions: all of which are already bedded into the live set.

Recorded at Woodbine Street Studio in Leamington with the maestro John Rivers (this is the second time today I've reviewed one of his productions: he's certainly on a roll)  the album almost certainly is the sort of thing which would have followed the last album in terms of building on it, though presumably events in between mean that the songs themselves are different to what might otherwise have been.

I appreciated the interim material, as I said at the time. It was thoughtful & humane & met the times well. However what originally drew me to Satsangi was the sort of sound you get from them live & on this record so I guess I can say, with no disrespect to the lockdown recordings, I'm pleased they are back to playing to the strengths of the full band (though they have slimmed down from a sextet to a five piece since the last album: though with Su now playing guitar in the studio as well as live, you might say that things have balanced in that respect).

Satsangi have always had stupendous impact live, but that has been as much with extended powerful workouts as much as short sharp punchy tunes: they have always had a great feel for when a song can be explored more rather than being self indulgent (their touchstone is far nearer to punk than prog) and given their long term interest in Indian music, the raga format is always one to consider for them. On ‘Year of the Pig' four of the seven tracks exceed five minutes in duration (it's actually a smaller proportion than on ‘You Saw Something') and none outstays its welcome.

Satsangi have never written a filler track: each one has a firm & direct meaning or message & many are more or less manifestos. Su's charismatic stage presence has a number of ingredients but one is definitely that the words she writes & sings are inherently powerful: no flab, no fudge, no compromise. Hence these songs and the whole album have ideological elements which you can ignore I suppose but you'd be missing the heart and purpose of what they have done. In their own words: "The pig is a much-maligned animal, but in Chinese and Southeast Asian traditions it is considered a symbol of prosperity and abundance. Though this album was written and recorded during a period of numerous personal calamities, it was also born from a rich collective force that is fierce, resolute and loyal – also qualities of The Pig. Conversely, its shadow side is celebrated via dystopian themes, digital soundscapes and dirty guitars.

 In a world that wants us to consume rather than create, generating creative currency feels like a necessary act of resistance. While our art schools and music venues are closed down, our books burned and music banned, Year of the Pig spins round and round with its rock-psych vibes and post-punk sentiment battling it out on vinyl."

Yes: this is a record containing polemics & I love those & that's why I'm urging this one on you. You might even like to consider what moves you ought to be taking in light of what they are advocating.

Working with John who has a background working with punk musicians from the earliest phase, they have a fine associate to ensure that the dirtiness & sharpness they aim for are preserved in the sound in addition to the virtuosity. They seem to aim for reflections of their live sound in their studio work (there are actually loads of remixes of their tracks out there where they've offered alternate readings for those interested) and I think this always pays off. No-one introduced to them live would wish to end up with a tamer version of what they enjoyed in concert.

There are, as I said, seven songs to enjoy: "Falling", "Galactic", "Helium, "Mabel", "Playing Dead", "Storm" and "Year of the Pig". Given their interest in & ease with Indian music, it's not surprising that Satsangi take advantage of long tracks to intersperse moments of fury & serenity to reflect a more cosmic balance and in more mundane ways, the furious passages work with even greater effect when exploding off the back of quieter sections. Grown-up dynamics have always been part of the Satsangi methodology and not only do they seem to be just as fascinated with exploring them as ever, they may be doing so even more.

The feisty in your face polemics are certainly what everyone takes away from a gig and the band are as righteously angry as ever, but to me looking at the detail of each track always brings fresh discoveries, nuances & little jewelled moments which complement the foregrounded elements and give the songs those extra dimensions. I'd say that these are easier to spot on record were it not for the fact that the live shows & mix do great jobs of highlighting these as well. Satsangi member Richard Heath is charged with this department I assume and if you want to point out that I've raised a Roxy Music analogy with his various keyboard and saxophone interventions before, then I hold my hands up because it's still true, I haven't said so for quite a few years and I love them.

My one quibble is one of processing. I've evolved a theory that our minds have been so amended by developments in how we listen to music that we deal with it better in single or EP form. This may just be me. I found ‘You Saw Something' virtually impossible to play through in the traditional form as various tracks hooked me & required repeating.

Similarly, I confess that I haven't actually played ‘Year of the Pig' as a whole yet. I wonder if I can? I'll certainly try. The songs are really so powerful though that the temptation to stop, take a pause & emotionally digest is overwhelming. I suppose I'd better check them out live when the band won't allow us that luxury and we'll be obliged to confront one after another.

There are some totally unexpected delights for you to unpack: I won't spoil the surprises with too much detail but I personally reacted well to the Siouxsie and the Banshees flavoured "Mabel", how the title track sounds so epic despite the shortest song in duration, the glorious post-punk (with a pop taste) "Galactic": the other tracks, being much longer are in fact tricky to describe pithily, being little pocket symphonies in their own right so having been pointed in their direction, go & enjoy them.

Again, discretion is the best course when thinking of disclosure of what Johnny has revealed to me of life beyond ‘Year of the Pig' but I think it's desirable just to mention the health issues which have forced the cancellation of their last gig so you can send good wishes & I know that once those are resolved there is a determination to play live & record new material: in a way, this album represents an opportunity to get out songs they have accumulated, especially as noted above, in arrangements you will hear in band concerts.

I make absolutely no apologies for my regular articles praising the young artists emerging locally through the "Live On Stage" project organised by The Tin & Coventry Music. Not only do these musicians help to ensure the sustainability of the whole current vibrant scene but in their own right so many of them are among the most talented & original our area has experienced ever: and that's not hyperbole as so many people agree and this is also in the context of all of them still being right at the very beginning of what I hope will be long careers.

To help spread the word, I have tried to focus as many as possible at our ‘Hot Music Live Presents' fundraisers at & for The Tin and of course to review their releases once they get into the studio. In most cases, the first has been easier than the second.

Consequently, though I've had the chance to feature & praise  StereoTypical for their live work, it's only today with the release of their debut single "Days Ago" (the first taste of what will in time be an EP) that I have had the pleasure of talking about them on record.

This will knock your socks off. The wait has been worth it. It's not that StereoTypical haven't had the songs nor opportunities to record: they have many qualities as you'll see me cite in a moment, but getting the debut right has been a matter of grave concern and they wanted to nail perfect versions & not fudge their music. (There have also been a few lineup tweaks in the meantime).

In the end, they have worked at Woodbine Street Studio with John Rivers to achieve perfection & in a moment of strange serendipity, I was actually standing with John when he first caught them live & witnessed his immediate enthusiasm & desire to work with them. With more than fifty years of experience, he's not lightly impressed.

A consistent theme running through my reviews is to foreground attitudinal values that impress me: originality, honesty, etc as I think that technical proficiency is not an end in itself. There seems little point in developing virtuosity if you then use material to showcase it rather than to serve inspirational songs.

I do readily acknowledge that proficiency underpins the "Live On Stage" artists: it provides them with the tools to soar creatively  and none more so than StereoTypical: having watched them in the company of several experienced musicians, it's not possible to comment on their performances without recourse to mentioning their skills.

Nonetheless: these abilities serve well thought out and original songs which display flair & commitment to a unique identity. I have heard the entire EP and every track might plausibly have been the first single. Some may of course follow in that role.

Thanks to the above mentioned skills, although the band offer us "post hardcore, grungy music" as a signpost, there are people who detect prog in the mix & I get it. you can pick all these strands out of "Days Ago" if you like though obviously many people (especially those not writing reviews) prefer not to pick tracks apart nor try to compare them with other stuff by other people.

It's got an anthemic quality (the band are good at "big" songs) which is going to be helpful in setting their career stall out & what I particularly like about the production is how John & the band have brought out the melodic aspects and the actual words. Live, StereoTypical create a wonderful overall impression with elements melded together, but I do think that however they've managed to allow access to these elements without losing the overall character of the song is to everyone's credit: I imagine this is what they've been aiming for during the period of trying to get their recordings absolutely right.

They already have an excellent reputation based on live work & now they have their first artefact to help spread the word out further than their immediate live audiences.

The music business notoriously & frequently fails to reward positive attributes with a corresponding element of fortune but you really can't do more than StereoTypical have done so far: they deserve success and possess all they could reasonably be expected to have in order to do well. This is an important career milestone for them & one I'm delighted to record & share.

I've never reviewed any "It's Not A Phase, Mum!" events before now, as this is a regular Alt Karaoke night at The Tin and I have no idea of how to review karaoke nights, if indeed they should be critiqued. And I'm scared someone might make me participate.

It's a shame because the organisers are great people who have all appeared in the magazine as performers & fortunately they helped me because when considering how to celebrate their second birthday, they realised that so many attendees  were in bands that it made sense to have a two day festival, with karaoke on the first night & band performances on the second: which I was then able to go along to.

I have always found putting four acts on in one evening for our ‘Hot Music Live Presents' fundraisers for The Tin to be a brisk affair requiring matching organisation but five… well I salute the team for arranging Crxssed Out, Creaking Twitch, Deathsex Bloodbath, Gutter Puppy & The Caroline Bomb. Respect to for Joseph Sullivan for sound engineering it all.

As you'll know, the latter four have long been enthusiasms of mine, have appeared on our showcase compilations & played at our gigs. However not only were Crxssed Out (who I believe are regulars at the karaoke nights) new to me, this was their very first gig. Not that you could have told that from the confidence on stage. They brought a very substantial following too: unusual for a debut and so enthusiastic were these that I couldn't get anywhere near the front of the stage to take any photos: something of an interesting measure as was the immense enjoyment they obviously experienced from playing which was a delight to witness. I heard that some recording might have been taking place too.

I have reported on Creaking Twitch playing as a trio & as a duo, but on this occasion it was just Nathan whom I applaud for rearranging their material each time for fewer colleagues. We all hoped that the band doesn't shed any more members as it really can't afford to. Regardless of having to reshape & to manipulate onstage technology, Nathan's delivery of their heartfelt & socially aware songs remain as potent & affective as ever: quite an achievement to build such a connection while having to work so hard.

What can I say about Deathsex Bloodbath? As my very brief spell as their Minister for Disinformation is over, thankfully I can point you towards their own articulacy of their ever more complex legend. Simply put, the urban guerilla phase after their re-emergence from interdimensional travel (as witnessed at their appearance at the HMLP gig in June) has moved on and yesterday we had a glimpse of the band in 2056 (please don't ask me what technology must have been involved: that's beyond me). They seem to have had individual adventures in the meantime involving perils & transgressions: much as you'd expect. What you (nor I) could have predicted would have been the setlist which was substantially different from June's: one can imagine their desire to visit songs they'd had to omit that time, but it's quite a feat to work up so many after such a long time away from them. Will there be more gigs while the band are in at least this level of contact with our reality? Who could possibly speculate?

Gutter Puppy too haven't graced our stages much recently (members have understandably been distracted by pleasant life events like marrying one another) and so it was a bit of a coup securing them for the bill: based naturally on enthusiasm for their vibrant & high energy performances. This one had to be set against the context of a hot night (they played a HMLP gig last summer on another scorching night) and a strange sequence of odd onstage tech issues: Gutter Puppy for some bizarre reason often seem to be battling factors in their gigs which while unfair also seems to drive them still further in the direction of their characteristic combative style. I'm sure they'd rather not swelter and have fewer challenges but it certainly brings their best qualities out of them: culminating as usual in the seering "Oasis" which struck a chord with this crowd.  Hopefully we'll see more of this band in coming months & hopefully hear the new material they are planning. Maybe they'll have a cool climate & gremlin free time to do so.

The stunning progress of The Caroline Bomb is now such that even the most potent of bands would sooner not follow them on stage. They really are operating at a unique level as far as so many other musicians seem concerned. Yet it's not the only way in which I detect progress. While Phoebe seems to be spending even more time playing in the audience which raises the stakes still further in regards to the sense of anarchic energy ("what's going to happen next?") nevertheless, I feel I hear the words more clearly each time I see them play (that might include I suppose increasing familiarity with them) and the separation of instruments seems cleaner: both I think to the benefit to awareness of just how good they are. However it also heightens the sense of how really strange their songs are in subject & structure. That of course is something I admire.

This was an evening of the weird & wonderful & definitely one which chimes with the ‘Hot Music Live Presents' preferences. However it's I suppose both a celebration of the karaoke nights & an advert for the vibe you'll find there, so I suggest that you check it out: check out The Tin's events page for upcoming dates.

Are you looking forward to Duke Keats' heralded ‘Avalon 2' EP? I know that I am.

However being the thoughtful as well as talented artist that he is, he has decided that with its more autumnal vibe, he'll hold it back until the right season & instead is treating us to an interim R&B flavoured EP.

As we've long known, his tastes and competences are so incredibly broad that switching from one tone to another is probably a daily occurrence: he almost certainly has his mind set on a variety of different musics at any given time & while his fertile mind can process in this way, he is compassionate enough to recognise that some of us need a little more structure to get our heads round what's going on in his.

First up is the single "What's Going On Tonight" and like everything else with him, has more than its fair share of new departures.

Temporarily putting his various guitars aside, he's playing synths this time out, and while it's not the first time he's done that, this time the gumbo he offers us manages to include afro beats as well as R&B (which is fair enough given the ancestry of the latter) but then overtly playfully drops in old school 1970s synth sounds in tribute to Paul McCartney while also channelling Eno: not an easy task I'd have thought.

It ends up all lush too: a bit of a Gauguin tropical island paradise vibe going on in there to my ears, a backdrop and inspiration to his contemplation of the cycles of life which is the gist of the lyrics. I suppose any R&B track with both the words "What's Going On" and a reference to night time conjure up a Marvin Gaye type of song which to couple to but I rather like how Duke subverts our expectations with this gentler philosophical song: as I say, there is plenty of playfulness in the night air.

At some stage someone will need to compile a ‘Best of Duke Keats' album: which will be massively eclectic and probably very difficult to make choices for. When that comes, perhaps "What's Going On Tonight" will be seen as a little too laid back but I'd make a plea for its inclusion right now for its depth, wit & subtlety.

I'm sure that Kenzie Webley fans can get a bit frustrated by waiting for releases: her new single "A Little Love" comes out more than two years after its predecessor "February" and her debut album ‘All of the Fallen Stars' was virtually two years before that.

However  Kenzie first attracted our attention while she was still at school and with younger musicians with plenty of talent it's totally impossible not to delight in the sort of academic and now professional success which they then experience in other avenues, even if it slows any momentum on the musical front: and Kenzie has certainly enjoyed plenty of such successes: so much so that it's more of a case of celebrating that she still has time for writing than bemoaning the wait. And as I always say, keeping your audience in anticipation is not a bad thing.

The same circumstances also aid quality control. Without delving too far into matters of chickens and eggs, it's worth noting both the consistent high quality of Kenzie's work and the context of producing it all while engaged just as intensely in other activity: if you have little time for creativity compared with a full time musician, you'd best make sure what you do is the best you're capable of.

That said, it's equally worth noting that when Kenzie writes, she chooses to light upon subjects of acute personal emotional experience & how can that not produce top quality work? "A Little Love" continues that trend as it's "..about the slow process of losing someone you care about and finding a way to let them go.."

Rather than churning out content to show that she can, Kenzie instead opts to articulate her deep feelings, possibly using the medium of song to process them & it's hardly difficult to speculate on how she may find this therapeutic.

This sort of material, while stimulating our respect and admiration, can sometimes be a little too intense (I can think of excellent songs which nevertheless I find hard to play for example), but she has two ripostes to this.

One is that, however the specific inspiration songs like this had for her, she goes for situations which most of us can relate too. This is not self-centred writing but an empathetic sharing (I'm tempted to draw a parallel with the field she has chosen for her career here).

The second is simple: Kenzie has a way with a melody. I don't really approve of sugar coating pills in lyrics (that's a bit patronising) but I think easing people into & then through a sad song, a bit of beauty counterpoints the melancholy & can suggest beauty within the pain.

Kenzie has always tended in the direction of keeping it simple (with the quantities of truth involved in her songs, it would be a very silly move to smother them with over arrangement) and "A Little Love" is her at her most affecting best. I find it hard to believe that no-one hearing it will not be profoundly moved as it speaks so eloquently to what we have to deal with.

I do hope though that my next Kenzie Webley review gets written before 2028….

Before Christmas 2024, Alys Rain sent me her song "Pinstripe Blues" which was intended for release as a single early in 2025: consequently I wrote a review which has not appeared so far & now never will.

The first delay was that Alys (also known to the world as Izzy Hadlum) intercepted me before I could share the article as she felt that the mix needed a little extra work. This initial postponement was extended as she then went off and had various adventures off the grid & unfortunately some ill health, but now the song has finally been released along with two more tracks ("The Sea" and "Oak and Ash and Thorn") as the ‘Pinstripe Blues' EP . As I bumped into her several times during those months, she was able to keep me updated & although I remained keen to tell you what I knew, she didn't get close to breaking the record of three years between my writing a review and the track coming out: which still sits with Orange River Remedy and their "Confusion (Slight Paranoia)" single.

These three songs (which were actually recorded as far back as February 2024) were recorded with Ross Davidson and after all the fine tuning, she professes herself to be "..really happy with the sound, production and feel achieved with these recordings,.." and who could possibly complain at someone seeking perfection?

Also on the EP is the incredibly multi-talented and ubiquitous Louis Scheuer (is there a local act currently he's not part of or collaborating with?) who provided  shruti box, percussion and vocals on "The Sea" and "Pinstripe Blues".

So what are these trio like? Well you'll know from past reviews that Alys is really quite experimental on record (we reviewed her most recent ‘In Tension' EP in 2022) and although placed within a broad alt-folk landscape, most of her work explores sounds, is not afraid to delve into lo-fi techniques and you can certainly use the expression avant garde accurately.

Live however, she doesn't go to reproducing these sounds via lots of kit: you get her and her acoustic guitar and the songs are presented as such: definitely veering towards the folk. I see she's now self identifying as "shoegaze-infused dark-folk drone" which appears to be a genre unique to herself (great) and I think does a decent job of encompassing both sides of her presentation.

"Pinstripe Blues" itself is probably too long a song for Classic FM to play on air (as well as being outside their tiny playlist) but the song is arguably classifiable as classical.

It starts just like a guitar concerto might (the flamenco flourishes reminded me at once of Joaquin Rodrigo) but then proceeds to offer a range of movements which flow into one another remarkably smoothly. I used the expression "classical" about the track "Speak Softly" from her last EP & I think this piece is a definite development of the direction she was going on that occasion.

If it kicks off in Spain, it soon heads eastwards & becomes very Indian for the second passage

Despite being apparently an instrumental travelogue for so long, after five and a half minutes, light, wordless vocals enter the sonic picture & very gradually grow in prominence, though throughout, the pictures are painted with sounds, not lyrics.

As I said earlier, there are two performers on "Pinstripe Blues": in fact a key part of the shifting dynamics of this long piece is how the arrangement becomes denser & more detailed at times with the various parts interacting powerfully especially at those communal passages.

She talks of "filling the liminal mid-land void with meandering lofi guitar" and the guitar (and everything else) do go on quite a journey within the structure: repetition is not much of a feature. However it seems a lot more purposeful than "meandering" suggests: though to the listener, it certainly steers you along a path you really cannot predict the course of: which is nice.

It's this lengthy & compelling trip you are being escorted on which is the beauty of "Pinstripe Blues": hypnotic in many places and way outside formulaic pop structures. The song certainly is not a blues format at all: it may refer to some sort of emotional state but it's the antithesis of the accepted genre structured approach: which may well be an ironical point its composer is making in choice of the title. What she refers to as "lo fi" does keep the track emotionally true as the blues aims to do, so that may be a factor also. As for the pinstripe element: an ironic comment (a la "execute executives") on conventional society?

"The Sea" features the same duo and again takes its time exploring (it's six and a half minutes in duration), starting in the same cultures as the title track but thence taking a different road: which obviously is a maritime one.

Although the intricacy of the arrangement (one of its glories) would be impossible to replicate live in a solo context, this song is arguably the closest Alys/Izzy has come to closing the gap between the sound she makes in the studio and that you hear live: this one will I'm sure work really well in concert with any adaptation not diminishing the overall impact of the composition.

This, in fact sounds to me like it has a poem as a basis for the lyrics (as it's a self composition, possibly that's how she began). More than that, I'm also sticking my neck out & suggesting that were it not for the length again, "The Sea" might be her best chance at getting broad airplay for one of her tracks. I don't suppose for a minute that she would contemplate a Radio Edit but if I had to cite an entry point track for anyone seeking to explore her music, I'd go for this one.

"Oak and Ash and Thorn" however undeniably originates in a poem: ‘A Tree Song' by Rudyard Kipling (from ‘Puck of Pook's Hill') as interpreted by folk singer Peter Bellamy. At this point you are probably expecting something terribly and quintessentially English but Alys Rain is not going to pander to your expectations: though Kipling might have recognised and approved  the Indian aspects of the arrangement.

Leaning quite hard on the drone side of her music, Alys extracts the menace from the source and amplifies this aspect: if people enacting Wicker Man rituals were looking for an addition to their repertoire, here's a contender.

And this illustrates an aspect of her work which transcends the labels: pretty much all her tracks would work well as part of soundtracks (though to very different films), whether as traditional lyrical as this last one or her more esoteric early experimental works. I throw it over to the readership now to work with her to create the movies to fit the songs.

Yes, it's ended up being the best part of four years between releases but Izzy has her eye on fresh music already: "It also feels cathartic to finally release these songs, to make way for the new." Watch this space.

When reviewing Paradise of the Titans' music, one doesn't usually need to dive into the thesaurus as the word "cool" springs so readily to mind and is so accurate. And naturally I intend both uses of the adjective.

Alice Weston's live shows to date have reflected her records, within which she has led you through the ‘Labyrinth' and escorted you to the realm of the ‘Mermaid': so we are talking the evocation of subterranean & submarine worlds.

So her unique artistic identity is the cool and chilled then? Well if so, how on earth (or realistically given her interest, anywhere in the universe) can you reconcile that with her new EP being called ‘Lava'?

Well making your head spin and flipping expectations are wholly desirable attributes for a great artist so I applaud her for that on a purely conceptual level.

Beyond that big leap, there is a lot more going on here than merely exchanging low temperature environments for what you might assume to be a much hotter one.

In fact it might not actually be that hot as I'm not sure the action is taking place on a terrestrial volcano: we are talking about space travel again and out there different rules apply.

Factor in a "romantic cyborg and an enchanted sleepwalk" and suddenly you become aware that reality (whatever that may be) is being subverted again and that you are listening to whatever is going on in Alice's imagination. In fact we may all just be fantasies of hers I suppose.

So what do you get on ‘Lava'? Well I've just given the game away about the track "Sleepwalking", plus there is a title track (that would be "Lava" naturally) plus "Crypto Origami". And that's just the basis. You also get a cover of Gary Numan's "Down in the Park" while close collaborators Invitation to Love & Batsch provide remixes of "Sleepwalking" and "Crypto Origami" respectively.

Released on the Holy Crow label (check out our article from last month wherein Alien She tipped us off around the intricate web of connections involving local artists centred on this label), ‘Lava' is Alice taking us on Trips again. Some to outer space, some to the centre of our own heads. Possibly all go to both. It's that sort of record.

"Dream Pop" remains also the sort of record it is and it's hard to contemplate any sort of pleasant dream which might involve say walking on a pyroclastic flow (perhaps "Nightmare Pop" is a thing to cover that?) and if you study the video for the "Lava" track (it can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSOK-mcQ4jY) then you'll see how Alice manages the concepts while delving " ..into supernatural characters via a vapour-wave aesthetic and Lynchian dance moves…"

Only that sort of mind could conceive of writing a song called "Crypto Origami" in the first place and then by presenting it to you (in two varieties to boot!) you get the double delight of figuring out both its meaning & how it fits into the Paradise of the Titans universe.

Interestingly, both remixes run less long than the parent track and it's tempting to suggest that in both cases the process has made the songs a touch brisker: I'd certainly say that the dynamic in each case is along the lines of Alice's mix leaning towards Dreaming and the reimagining to the Pop: though I could also say that also in each case, languid flow is broken up more with skittering Beats. A person could get lost in Alice's world but her collaborators seem to want to nudge us back in the general direction of reality from time to time.

To be honest, fans of her work could probably have felt that a song called "Sleepwalking" would fit into her canon very easily and who better to write a song with that title & do it justice? It may become a live signature piece & at the very least will be a key element in her setlists going forward. Gossamer in quality (especially in its original format), Alice plays gently with the aether and sees how light her touch can be & still produce a true song. She cites "inspiration from Kate Bush, Gary Numan and Grimes' early work" yet none of them, not even Kate wove webs quite this fine.

I suppose covering Gary Numan is totally plausible if you're inspired by him, but not only does Alice reimagine the sound & draw "Down in the Park" into her world, it's an intriguing subject area & one I don't readily associate with her own songs: the latter aren't dystopic (that my interpretation finds any way) and dealing with the fantastic, mythological and magical is quite a step with his fascination with the mechanical, the frightening & the lethal. I think you deserve not to have to wait for this review until I've figured that out, but for the time being the idea of Alice offering us paradoxes to play around with is admirable.

I am intrigued by Alice's creative process: her songs show so much interest in the subconscious that it tempts me to think that she uses her own as a key part of her methodology. Yet on the other hand, precise detailing is evident throughout… I leave you to conduct your own analysis on this matter pending her sharing any insights, though a bit of mystery in this area I think adds to the allure.

Hello

We are THE THERMS from Bicester and Leamington.

Here is the link to our single 'SYNCOPATOR'

It would be really great if you could it a brief review!

FYI It was recorded by the guy who produced The Strokes 'Is This It?' and I dropped a Bowie speech sample in for fun! It was mastered by our friend Mark Gardener of RIDE.

We are an alt.rock 4 piece who formed in January.

We have gigs coming up and  haver live footage on Youtube.

We would love to play the Tin Music and Arts.

https://soundcloud.com/labelrecords-764608199/syncopator?si=53de343b6d904798be43e333a0562b67&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing


https://youtu.be/cU51QrJHVPA?si=rwtAa16PaJwG6jlL

A Dusty Road, A Broken Tape Machine and a Whole Lot of Soul"
Review by "Wizzo" — Blues Correspondent

There are albums that sound like they were made in a studio, and there are albums that sound like they were found somewhere.

The Man with Gold Shoes belongs firmly in the second category.

Chris Gibbons has spent a lifetime absorbing the language of blues, soul, jazz and Americana, but this is not an album chasing nostalgia. It feels more like a conversation between old ghosts and a modern songwriter who knows exactly when to leave the room noise, the rough edges and the imperfections intact.

The standout surprise is "Benzos and Booze" — a track that feels less recorded than discovered. Born from a spontaneous acoustic performance captured on a phone, it carries the spirit of an old field recording: intimate, fragile, and completely alive. Rather than polishing away the character, Gibbons embraces it, adding only enough atmosphere to make it feel like a forgotten reel unearthed from a Mississippi back porch.

The result is something rare: a song where the listener feels they are present at the moment of creation.

Throughout the album, Gibbons demonstrates the greatest skill of experienced musicians — knowing what not to play. The spaces between the notes matter. The guitar breathes. The songs carry the weight of someone who has travelled a long road and still finds stories waiting around the next corner.

In an age of over-produced perfection, The Man with Gold Shoes is a reminder that sometimes the most powerful recordings are the ones where you can still hear the human being behind the music.

A beautifully weathered piece of Americana.

https://chrisgibbons.bandcamp.com/album/the-man-with-gold-shoes

I tend to have a complicated relationship with remixes. I struggle to reconcile feelings such as "if I felt the first version was that good, how can I deal with the changes?" and "if the artist has come up with a song they are really happy with, isn't it a bit disrespectful of a third party to suggest they can improve it?". On the other hand I'm fully aware that producers may try a range of mixes pre-release and equally I often praise people for writing songs which they can then perform in a variety of formats.

However I feel I'm on safer ground when an artist makes it clear that they approve of a remix & so since Robert James Grey says he really likes the ‘Mono No Aware Remix' of his May 2025 single "All Through Space" by his friend James Clark who am I to quibble?

In fact the reimagining is quite radical: and one which on paper looks risky to the point of not being workable.

Given the haunting and intensely emotional nature of the original song, the undeniable elements which made it so strong, the melding with "..a vibrant beach club aesthetic.." seems so perverse as to almost represent the absolute polar opposite vibe. Maybe the extremity of the vision goes so far that it qualifies for the potential benefits of counter-intuition?

At any rate, Robert, who clearly poured his soul into the song, likes it & taken on its own, I'm happy to say that the stated intention of creating  "…the perfect soundtrack for late summer evenings and long drives…" definitely works fine.

So coming to it fresh, I'd say people will enjoy it on those terms: and if it brings this fine and dedicated artist more fans from amongst the dance orientated community, that's excellent.

The tension remains however for those of us who have heard & liked the first mix.. and I'm not sure I have fully processed this myself. I may well go for preferring one over the other, but I think that's permissible? Anyway, creating tensions for listeners & challenging them in such ways is no bad thing: they are certainly vastly preferable to being doled out bland fare which sparks no internal debate nor reaction.

It's good to keep learning & I must admit then when I began by organising what I thought at the time would be a one-off ‘Hot Music Live Presents' flavoured benefit gig for The Tin, I could not have envisaged the curve of awareness raising that I'd experience.

Firstly, I consider myself reasonable informed but I had no idea of the profundity of the existential challenges to independent music & arts venues. Factor in charitable identities & missions which maximise community and inclusive involvement while minimising pricing in order to facilitate access to the people with fewest resources and you have financial tensions which are hard to reconcile. Single one-off fundraisers are not enough I'm afraid.

Very thankfully however, I probably also underestimated the numbers of artists & audience members eager to respond. Last night's event was the fifteenth of these events & I have to say that the continuation of the series is driven as much by the desire of artists to be involved & give freely of their time & talent as it is by other factors. Hence the sixty or so who've played so far really do deserve credit & respect.

This time the lineup was Danny Ansell, Rosetta Fire, las vedas and dogmarket.

Yes we are still in the realms of diversity of style (and part of the strength of the response to the issues is that The Tin enjoys the support of artists of such wildly differing identities: which helps broaden the base of this sort of engagement but also of course reflects the venue's own values: so many different artists wish to help out because The Tin opens its doors to artists regardless of how they describe their music.

But there's more to diversity than just how you play. Unpicking the stories of each artist & how they came to play last night, you hear human narratives. Danny for example has played there in his estimation for two decades & feels at attachment to a place which helped launch his long & subsequently successful career. He was far from the only one playing who first performed on the old stage at the other end of the venue, but several had not yet played on the "new" stage before.

dogmarket as a live concern was a revelation to me: and I am not sure how many people present had seen them before. Judging by the records I was anticipating them requiring banks of kit to replicate the complexities of the records: but no: such is the state of  electronic technology that it could all be carried (easily) by two people: small but mighty kit plus a guitar and (again not anticipated by me) a trumpet. Now SADGAYELECTONICA is such a niche genre that I'm not sure if it raises many expectations in me, but brass definitely isn't one of them.

Admittedly doubling the number of musicians compared with the recordings was pretty clearly necessary in order to replicate them but the vibrancy of the live versions which made great use of the interplay between voice, guitar, trumpet, synths and laptop produced a performance which veered between the avant garde & highly melodic whimsical pop (often in the same song) which required a lot of attention from the audience to follow but which rewarded this. It wasn't all sad (though it had some sad bits) and the electronica had warmth which the name doesn't always signpost to people.

I'd seen las vedas perform at Leamington Peace Festival only a fortnight earlier & their was a performance which just goes to prove that bands do successfully adapt sets and performances to fit the occasion. There was a substantial overlap in setlists but delivered in the confines of The Tin as opposed to the space of the  Pump Room Gardens seemed to concentrate & distil the power of the band: they were noisy & boisterous outside but indoors this verged closer to the overwhelming. Was it just me or did their darker songs (most of them) gain potency & become more frightening inside without the summer sun to mitigate them? You could see last night more easily why certain social media take down posts relating to las vedas. If they fear that this band is in some way advocating self harm, it may be because they use a rubbish AI tool which can't tell the difference between a water pistol and a firearm or just maybe the darkness of the lyrics (delivered by artists dressed in Hawaiian shirts and shades: how's that for artistic tension?) threatens them?

Equally the exuberant stage movement which rocked the large outside stage becomes something else when relatively confined: this is a band you cannot ignore.

I was so pleased that Rosetta Fire who are just coming back from a long dormancy dating from 2019 were available to play. They had never graced this particular stage before and even some of the other Leamington based musicians present hadn't ever seen them before: striking especially in the context of their being one of the biggest & best bands from that town prior to the hibernation: there are plenty of reviews in this magazine to back this up if you visit our archives.

They are back with a renewed zest & sense of mission (which may well include an element of making up for lost time I suppose) so please do keep an eye open for their newly recorded single (which of course was played) and they are currently building a programme of live dates. Given the quality of the performance last night, you're in for a treat if you are able to catch them.

One factor for sure was their obvious delight in playing again & the very positive audience response (there was a lot of dancing, pretty much all of it by people who'd never before seen them) which drove them ever upwards. Of course they remain highly talented musicians which is the basis for what thy do, but observing people experiencing such joy does communicate something extra to those watching & creates a particular impression. Talking to people afterwards, it was interesting how they praised the vocal harmonies: whether this is something they've been working on recently or whether I'd been too dim to remark on them in earlier reviews is a good question.

Danny and his band, as mentioned above, had the personal element of his history with the venue but as you'll know, he is an artist with burning values which tend to inform the songs he writes & certainly ignite his performances. Danny Ansell at any gig hurls himself in with gusto and passion but give him an event which fires him up on issues he believes strongly in and you get something extra special. On this occasion, the opportunity to state his feelings on The Tin, the importance of local independent venues, accessibility of places to play for as many musicians and their audiences and the specific location of Coventry and he had multiple openings to express his emotions. And Danny being Danny, he'd long ago already written songs which fitted the subject: "Lemonade Wage" and "A Sky So Blue" for example fitted so neatly & were in fact dedicated to The Tin and the city respectively.

It was a suitably emotional end to another great night of top quality original music which continues to demonstrate the breadth & depth of local talent. However enjoyable it was though, the big lesson is that a single event is not by itself enough to sustain a venue.

Please do therefore try & pop down to The Tin when you can: the range of music (and now they are doing regular comedy shows too) is as eclectic as these ‘Hot Music Live Presents' ones so there is something for everyone and of course while our HMLP gigs have a local focus, the other events draw from across the world.

May I also please draw your attention to this link again:

https://www.zeffy.com/en-GB/donation-form/donate-to-support-the-tin-music-and-arts

We haven't fixed any more dates for HMLP fundraising events but please do keep an eye out for announcements as there are a lot more talented artists we'd love to involve & the need for the events is ongoing.

We're going ROGUE! A new Rock N Roll club night coming to The Crew, Nuneaton on 10/07/26. With live acts from Londons PROFESSIONAL 101 plus support from The Home Grown and Owen Kelsey. As well as a rad DJ set from rex Roulette playing your favourite Rock n Roll bangers all night. Tickets starting from £1.99!