When reviewing Paradise of the Titans' music, one doesn't need usually to dive into the thesaurus as "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.

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 a friend of his 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!

Well thank goodness for that: Leamington Peace Festival was back for its 43^rd manifestation and how delighted am I  to be reporting on it after so long a hiatus?

I'll be frank: I feared it was consigned to history. After struggling for people to help out & then  lockdown, the longer the period it didn't run, I assumed that a revival became less & less possible. Then came the fiasco of an attempt in 2025 to put something on which was a travesty of the original & caused far more offence than it spread the values of the Festival. Possibly that was a catalyst for 2026, but very good people have come on board (including one original founder, Gian) and I'm going to say it: this is not just a revision to the values & quality of yesteryear but amongst the best I've been to.

In an era I hardly need to cover in depth with international peace threatened in so many places & the ideologies of peace, diversity & inclusion under direct assault around the world and even here in Warwickshire where the County Council stands against the Peace Festival values, it seems all the more needed. Huge kudos to the team: I can't name them all if I want to write an article which gets read but the Directors are Jennie, Leila, Tom, Judy and Jatinder.

The event was heaving (I met so many people whom I knew and missed as many whom I later discovered had been in the crowds somewhere) and if the weather helped, then I got the impression that it was mainly joy at the return of the Festival. Everyone was more or less saying the same things to me & I to them. In the absence of the Peace Festival, the local authorities have promoted a range of commercial and lifestyle events, possibly to draw on the perceived community, but I think from what I saw & heard, the people who came were motivated far more by higher values: compassion, community etc than materialism and self-indulgence. It was wonderful to see so many stalls promoting philosophies & communities under threat and talks which stimulated discussions: the message definitely was one of "we must all stand together"

I think the music lineup is one of the strongest I can remember and it's great to see so many artists we've supported in the magazine playing: Shanghai Hostage, Man Made Moon, las vedas, The Session, Ben Clempson (of Clemency), The Mudlands String Band, Rosetta Fire (the one act I was sorry not to able to see) TwoManTing, Firedaze and The New Obsession. All of them were clearly inspired by the atmosphere & the audiences & played blinders.

It was actually quite a stimulating start to be met with a few curve balls straight away. Thank you to Shanghai Hostage who are good at that sort of thing. Knowing that guitarist Ben was in Australia and that bassist Rich had relocated to South Yorkshire, I was expecting Justin of Duck Thieves and Deathsex Bloodbath to be depping on guitar & intrigued to see who played bass. In the event, I found the return of Rich: but not to play bass but guitar and Rhys on bass showing the same level of funk we've come to expect after only a few rehearsals. That prepared me nicely to process Mole/Butterfly dancing . Yes.

Later on another delight worth sharing was las vedas bringing on many auxiliary members (some really young) for a spirited cover of "Rock Lobster" (with "lots of bubbles"). Will they be repeating this when they play the ‘Hot Music Live Presents' fundraiser for The Tin on July 3^rd? Pop down & find out.

Returning to a favourite theme of mine (please bear with me: I have a valid point to make here), it was very rewarding to see one of the ‘Live On Stage' bands The New Obsession, close the festival on the bandstand (though sadly without the studying bassplayer Lilyana). Not only is this another step forward for this excellent band who made such progress in 2025, but a vindication of the input on this project run by The Tin and Coventry Music. All the musicians watching to whom I spoke told me that they would never have imagined having the confidence to play such events at 15/16 & frankly organisers would not have booked such young artists in their day. If this is another way the Peace Festival is going (and to be honest I don't recollect their having such young musicians before), then I'm very impressed and looking forwards to more.

Credit too to the sound team, led by Bungle and including Paul, John, Chris & Martin. Support for musicians has always been a key part of the Peace Festival and it really only gets appreciated when enduring the lack of respect shown by lesser events which regard "music" as merely a generic attraction & skimp on hiring professional sound engineers.

There was so much love around & people were so glad the Peace Festival was back: even taken just for its musical component, it was a wonderful event. But it is way more than that and having lost it once, the issues of sustainability must now be much more appreciated. The team worked wonders by reviving the event: in my opinion against the odds. There are dynamics around both indifferent & hostile to its values quite apart from the demands on the organising team. I urge everyone who enjoyed the Peace Festival in 2026 to do everything within their capability to support it, not just on the two days it actually happens, but in helping it come together: incidentally please do put June 12^th to 13^th 2027 in your diaries!

Could I please urge you to take a look at YNES' new magazine ‘Fair Play'? The strapline is "amplifying work-class creative voices" and it's only one additional letter, but to me the plural form of the last word is the crux here. It's absolutely packed with content: 35 A4 pages in pretty small font to fit it all in & yet still beautifully put together with artwork of all kinds proliferating. YNES is really making clear the diversity of working class creative voices: these are many cultures not one homogenous one. There's so much great, really illuminating & thought provoking content that even listing it would overwhelm this article: however may I just highlight one example: three detailed sides on Coventry's ChiChi Squad which alone is a must read for you reading this and it was good to see members of the band present last evening at The Tin for the magazine launch.

Quite apart from a stupendous vision & I assume hundreds of hours of work putting it all together, it must have cost a fair bit to have such production values and in an age of often trite and ephemeral online music fanzines, printing in hard copy is a bold statement of intent for a very worthwhile concept.

Obviously buying copies is one aspect of sustaining it, but it must devour content at a rate so I'm sure YNES would be pleased to hear from people looking to help with issue number two.

As I say YNES was present (having flown in from Vancouver) and had support in regards to musical sets on the night from both Ace Ambrose (with her Oddity band scaled down to just Emmy Mckissock currently) and Yousaf who is based in the Manchester region. Sadly Duke Keats was prevented from playing by ill health.

I find it hard to describe the latter as every song in his set (including a duet with Ace) was totally different from the quiet & reflective to full on polemic (think a one person Grail Guard). It was all powerful stuff & his enthusiasm for the project & playing his music was infectious. I'm not sure how often he'll be playing round our way, but if you get the chance.. definitely recommended.

YNES herself opted not to take the headline spot at the event and delivered a characteristic set which was at the top of her form & served to remind us of how much we miss her regular presence on our local stages. With her trademark blend of apparently fragile vulnerability and steely defiance, as ever she took the recorded forms of her songs (though a couple of items in her set are yet to be released) and interpreted them via the emotions she felt in the moment: which as ever meant transcending what you hear on record. Her latest single, "What Was It All For???" made its live debut (an honour to be there) and revealed its true power and majesty. If I had to give a precise example of how YNES finds more in her own songs as she sings this, it might be her extra emphasis on the word "melodrama" throughout compared with the release. I do hope she returns again soon.

Ace therefore was the headliner, and she certainly possesses all the attributes for that role. With both Pride and Gaza under assault from the forces of darkness, lord knows she had targets enough to fuel her outrage and of course she has the songs to express that. Again, not all of these have yet come out (I'm advised that an album is on its way plus some exciting visuals) so it was exciting to hear more material for the first time. Although typically pushing back against the limitations of her own chronic health issues which meant performing seated for most of the set, the power in her voice was in no way diminished: in fact she possibly was more potent than ever.

Look out for Ace & Emmy at Coventry Pride: they are playing at Just Dropped In Records in FarGo at 1400 on 27^th June (sponsored by the "Everywhere At Once" National Lottery funded initiative).

All three artists are driven by their values (and Duke Keats would have fitted in snugly on this account) and that really was the focus of the evening: counterpointing the stories in the magazine with songs of protest and seeking social justice in a variety of contexts: a well thought out evening designed to reinforce messages.

In a time when dark forces are seeking to suppress debate & disenfranchise many different groups, to have people like YNES and her collaborators actually do something about it is highly commendable. They will not keep quiet. I think we all should stand with them.

Through the reviews I've shared of the first three singles from the album ("Ginkgo Biloba", "The Earth Spirit" and "Privileged Animals"), I hope your awareness of what Ieere's new album 'Sad Moon, Sleepy Heads'  would be about is already at a decent level.

Now however it's crunch time as I have my review copy and the launch event is on Friday 12^th June, at The Pen Factory at 13, Hope Street in Liverpool. Should you be round that way.

Like all the most intense artistic manifestations, such moments are capable of simultaneously provoking almost diametrically opposing feelings in a reviewer. One set are vividly positive as I contemplate the breadth & depth of what I'm looking at right now, the other is near despair at doing it justice.

I'd better start with the factual as that's the easy first steps. Apart from the singles, you'll be hearing a dozen more tracks: "Clock", "Himmelsduft", "Measuring Time", "For All You Wanderers", "Das Alter", "Talismans", "Blooming", "Tender Empiricism", "Magic Man", "Sad Moon, Sleepy Heads", "On The Lake" and "(Sixty Years)". Which I think is possibly the most tracks I've encountered on an album for quite some time.

And who's made them? Well I can tell you that fairly confidently too: it's Simon Monaghan (vocals, spoken word, guitars), Claire Glasbey (vocals & handclaps), Dominic Hanway (vocals, bass, guitars, keyboards and handclaps), Jonathan Fisher (horns and spoken word), Chloë Mullet (piano & flute), John Kinane (backing vocals and spoken word) and reflections & quotations are performed by Vicki, Emmi, Felicitas and Peter.

The involvement of course of Claire and of Andie Thomson at Gighouse Studio (where  it was mixed and mastered in addition to some of the recording and programming) bring it into the catchment of this magazine.

When you receive your hard copy, the first impression will probably be of the really high production values: I'm looking at a beautifully designed case plus an accompanying lyrics/quotations/philosophies booklet. This whole artefact shouts out "class".

And so it should: as you already know, Ieere have set out to "examine some of the poetry and the thought of Goethe with reference to his concern for the nourishing power and the healing presence of nature".

If your starting point is the work of one of the most admired poets of history then you can imagine the pressures on the musicians to do justice. However, the obvious starting point for anyone setting Goethe might reasonably be classical & in particular something along the lines of Beethoven who was roughly contemporary, German and a fellow participant in the Romantic movement. That sort of thing would fit surely?

Well if you've read the three previous reviews, you'll already know that this is not Ieere's approach at all. Instead, they've sought to make his work accessible in our contemporary world.

The potential  traps here are pretty substantial: the thought of someone trying to get "down with the kids",  "translating" Goethe into what they think is contemporary street slang or rap form and other egregious and patronising behaviour sends a shudder down the spine.

But you know already that that's not what they've done. Ieere balance between the preciousness of period settings and dumbing down of the over demotic in a way which most of us might liken to tightrope walking: except they sound so confident in performing in each of the various styles they've chosen that the marriages of words to tunes comes across as totally natural (which in itself speaks to the aim of ‘Sad Moon, Sleepy Heads'). Ultimately, it may be this factor which forms the basis of authenticity and accessibility which really ensures that it succeeds.

For many of us, eighteenth century German culture can be quite intimidating. I confess that I have always considered Goethe "heavy". But then all I knew were "The Sorrows of Young Werther". I thank Ieere for teaching me a lot about his work & I've completely altered my opinion as a result. OK the only work I knew is admittedly pretty heavy but the work this album covers certainly is a different kettle of fish and as such responds really effectively to the lightness of touch which Ieere seem to be aiming for whenever possible. Forget Sturm und Drang.

As each of the fifteen songs has its own carefully crafted, customised arrangement, each stands well on its own: hence the number of plausible singles. However this is not a compilation, it's a very thoughtfully constructed album which needs to be considered as a whole. It's conceptual, so it's arguably a concept album and I could get bogged down into analogies with song cycles and considering each track to be a movement in a longer work. That would be both pretentious and I'm sure inaccurate.

However, even if you've arrived at ‘Sad Moon, Sleepy Heads' via the individual singles as I have, it's important I believe to play the whole through at least once to grasp its holistic effect: and I do think holistics are part of what Goethe & Ieere have in mind.

The fine art of sequencing is a craft which hasn't been used as much in a world of singles, EPs and streaming and I am sure that the order in which these songs are presented has been given much thought. I think that hitting ‘shuffle', though it's the listener's prerogative to do so, may be in this case to depart from something designed to maximise meaning.

But please don't interpret this as implying a series of ultra smooth transitions. The natural world of Goethe & Ieere is that of Rousseau and not Le Nôtre: wild and unpredictable, not sanitised & enslaved. Hence you get surprises as one song succeeds another and that I think is just fine. This is a record to promote thought, not to coddle.

If you don't like singing interspersed with the spoken word (including in German), or jazz followed by soul and thence New Wave into a classical piece, and straight from that into punk ("Das Alter"), then this record may be too radical for you. I think that at this point, if you've ever listened to a ‘Hot Music Live Presents' compilation or attended one of our shows, you can work out an attraction of ‘Sad Moon, Sleepy Heads' with its rampant eclecticism and playful juxtapositions.

In fact, to emphasise the continuity in question, I'd like now to quote from an interview Claire recently gave in which she spoke about Goethe's writing and  "….the rawness and truth in it. His writing feels unapologetic and honest. It was so far ahead of its time, especially considering the era he was writing in—people simply weren't ready for those kinds of truths then. And if I'm honest, I don't think we're fully ready for them now either."

And I totally agree. I often feel that contemporary society is spoonfed huge amounts of quasi-cultural content, large dollops of which are manufactured to confirm & reinforce prejudices. Goethe revolted against that, Ieere are of similar mind & this resonates with me also.

Claire expresses her own connection to the album as ".. an ode to spirituality. A gentle invitation to reconnect—with ourselves, with beauty, and with truth." I'd like to add "fun" to her list. There is so much beauty, humanity and wisdom on the record, emanating from the poet but I feel that Ieere in the settings they have devised have added that quality & surely, if one is to enjoy life as recommended, it's an essential ingredient isn't it?

Frankly anyone who can take something called "Tender Empiricism" and make such a catchy song out of it deserves some sort of medal. Of course every song is a jewel containing nuggets not just of wisdom but of deeply humane wisdom. Each has a different sound and in all my admiration for the material, I must not end this article without expressing my admiration of the band: not just for its taste in devising this project and in setting the words, but in the skill they possess in being able to play so many different ways with such a lightness of touch. As I've said, Ieere have kindly devised much in the way of supplementary materials, but despite the many words and the artwork, the concentration is on the ideas and they do not bang their own drum much at all (there is no band photo for example). Given their admirable modesty and service to the music, I think I ought to end by urging you to consider the quality of minds & hearts which wrought ‘Sad Moon, Sleepy Heads'.

Following up her magnificent "Diamonds", a song I felt took Katherine Abbott into new and very exciting artistic territory  (I still can't stop playing it)  was, without, always going to be a challenge.

As you'll know from what she's previously revealed, prior to her album she'll "be releasing a few songs I've written and recorded over the past 5 years or so which need to be set free like tiny birds who've been cooped up too long in files on my phone" , so having a strong store  from which to select is a helpful element in this sort of process. The latest candidate for liberation is "Find a Way" which bridges the gap between her more ethereal style which characterised her early releases and the more rock approach of its immediate predecessor.

Katherine has always demonstrated steel in her music, regardless of the wispiness of vocals (in fact the dynamic between these is a key part of her talent) and her songs almost always, again despite any apparent lightness of instrumental touch, are borne along by some form of groove: generated in various ways on various tracks. This time out is no exception: again the accompaniment doesn't intrude on the vocals at all, but propels the song along zestfully with a compelling rhythm enriched a series of creative chords & changes: providing yet another classic Katherine Abbott stimulating dynamic where the sense of knowing where the song is going, driven by that groove, contends with the surprises provided by the tune itself.

Having followed her music all the way from "Lullaby For Lucas" (you can find it on ‘Hot Music Live Presents Volume Nine'), it's clear to me that Katherine spends a lot of time on top of her innate ability in crafting very subtle music in this way. However just as important (possibly more so) to her is the emotional depth of her lyrics. As they tend to the allusive, I can only speculate sometimes as to any experiences she may have had which inspired these (and frankly often feel it would be intrusive to ask her: so I never do). This is no exception, though I am pleased to report that (assuming I get this right) that this is a song of positive emotions, a "can do" philosophy which embraces the possibilities inherent in the day ahead of her: consequently she comes across as happy, which is uplifting

There is a charming video to go with "Find a Way" that tends to amplify my reading of the song and which you can find at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRcxAWMg5e4

You can catch Katherine at the Cat Mead curated 'Song & Story' at Southbound in Leamington on 30^th June: tickets are available via this link:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/song-story-tickets-1990322188243

The ‘Hot Music Live Presents' fundraiser for The Tin last evening broke new ground even for a series which, apart from the main aim, tries to introduce as many people as possible to new music.

Of the four bands,  Deathsex Bloodbath, Batsch, Little Girl Screaming and Stegosaurus Sex Party, two were local cult status ones who hadn't played locally for so many years that many of the audience hadn't seen them before & the rest all dropped the entirety of their sets & released work in favour of wholly new material & different onstage instrumentation. So if you were looking for "a thrill that's new", you were in the right place. Equally the bands themselves had never played on the same bill before (and I suspect this configuration may be difficult to put together again).

Up first, Stegosaurus Sex Party retained the party mood from their previous gigs but none of the songs, jettisoning drums for a much more electro sound which was in its own way just as exciting as before. It was certainly as furious & in your face with as little compromise as ever. Targets (and the new stuff certainly is aimed directly) were added to be the righteous fury of the band for some astonishing online transphobic bigotry expressed towards Deathsex Bloodbath by a person who bizarrely purports to be a member of the local creative community. There is nothing like this sort of outrage to fuel performances & it helped I think to give the community present a sense of the necessity to stand together in the face of prejudice. Certainly DSB had their own thoughts to share later on.

Tree and Chris of Little Girl Screaming tested the water back in October as an acoustic duo at our fundraiser & it went down so well that they brought their full band back to the city for the first time in about fifteen years: few of the venues they played so often at are still around but thankfully they are. Their "new" drummer Simon has been with them for a more than a decade now yet this was still his first gig with them here: bassist Mev is a more recent recruit  but, with due respect to their predecessors, I'd suggest from my memory (and I saw them often enough), Little Girl Screaming have never sounded so powerful and compelling live. This is a really strong lineup and I hope they can play more live: it would be a waste not to. Certainly it's time they reminded people round Coventry of just what a great band they are.

I've written before of my admiration of how Batsch have evolved successfully from a quartet to a duo and now "just" Mason. However that's barely telling the story, as he too has consigned all Batsch music from their many releases to the archives and constructed a brand new set around the persona of "Clive Batsch". Batsch fans will reasonably point out that his musical talents offer continuity (though given the new context, the music is much more spare on many songs) but this is probably not as obvious as the facets of the performance itself. And it certainly is a performance. He has crafted a strange new persona who seems to live in a 1970s type world: one rooted in a sort of semi-bourgeois suburbia with an unseen wife (Maureen), but having retired from a series of often rather odd careers with peculiar progressions, about which he sings songs. He also treats us to monologues about anecdotes relating to them in the style almost of a 1970s club comedian: so it's not surprising when many of the songs are sort of crooned ones such as people like that used to intersperse their acts. As I say, linking these to "old" Batsch tracks isn't easy, but maybe, his interest in the filmic & visual as a stimulus for his music has, in this fashion, become more overt?

He uses keyboards & guitar to accompany himself, but (in yet another surprise), he brings on star guests Nyotaa (for two numbers) and Tim Ellis (of Jackdaw with Crowbar fame) on bass for one.

It's all a delight, but in a final (and I have to say complex) twist, even this fascinating set exists within a broader context as somehow this finely imagined world of Clive Batsch has become entwined with the notoriously detailed lore of Deathsex Bloodbath. Foreshadowing pops up in the form of a leaflet posted through his door  and his reel of 1970s adverts which plays throughout is interrupted by a communique from them. Eventually they burst onto stage before he's finished as part of a coup establishing The People's Republic of Coventry.

This merging of two sets (I thank Sophie Williams for coining "Deathsex Bloodbatsch") is a first for these gigs & went down well with the audience who obviously didn't see it coming. A testament to the hard work by all concerned in making it work so effectively.

After a Deathsex Bloodbatsch rendition of the "Coventry National Anthem" (which largely concerns Coventry Market), Deathsex Bloodbath remained to tear through many of their most alluring and provocative tracks, delivered with the sort of theatricality unseen since the last Deathsex Bloodbath gig.

Sadogasm (vocals, guitar, ego and lycra), Switchblade (vocals, feathers and disinformation), Masokiss (bass, science and magic), Sororicide (drums, percussion and violence) & Justin Appropriate (leading guitar and having discarded his trademark hotpants for something even more revealing) may have been absent from our stages but like Little Girl Screaming, my feeling was they were even better than before. It might be my own delight in seeing a favoured band I never thought I'd see again: it might be part of their delight in playing again, but they were on fire. This time, having battled demonic possession and evil alternative selves in previous scenarios, they have evolved into urban guerillas, complete with fatigues etc. Except of course for Justin. It was good too to see early DSB member Caitred Alabaster in the audience.

Of course they've all been playing a lot in the years intervening (many of them having been Duck Thieves for example) so the performing skills are bound to have been enhanced. Nevertheless, you could tell the glee they had at being able to play such classics as "You are Dead! We are Deathsex!", "Been to Kettering",  "Douches (There are Too Many of Them)", "Do Better", "Tinder is the Night", "Let's Fuck!" and "Asphyxiwank" with appropriate abandon, punctuated by some reflections on bigotry and unfurling of flags including an Anti-Fascist Action one.

Once again, delightful as it was to finally see this band again, it would be a crying shame if it wasn't followed by at least occasion reunions given the amount they poured into preparing for this one: though I should point out that they will also be playing at the "It's Not a Phase Mum!" Festival at The Tin on Saturday 18^th July

So there you have it: a unique evening which it was a privilege to be at (the place was packed with some of the best people too). Passionate commitment to craft and artistic courage. You can't find it at every musical event, but it crops up frequently at The Tin. I hope you get to experience all four acts though probably not again in one place & some may require more of a wait. Massive credit to Ian Whitehead: the amount of kit and swapping things around all the magnificence just described required was the most any of these gigs has needed: and that's before thinking about the very idiosyncratic sound needs of each band.

On a more sombre note, it's worth remembering why all these great gigs are happening & why so many artists and audience members are supporting them. The economics of running independent venues, not least ones which are charities & do so much community work, are fragile. No single income stream is enough by itself to sustain The Tin and so the day before this event, they put out a plea for individual support.

Accordingly may I please draw your attention to this link:

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

Our next fundraiser of The Tin is on July 3^rd and features Danny Ansell, Rosetta Fire, Las Vedas and dogmarket

Advance tickets are available via this link:

https://events.humanitix.com/hot-music-live-danny-ansell-rosetta-fire-las-vedas-dogmarket

I think pretty much everyone will, however reluctantly, admit that to make it in music talent's a great asset but unfortunately luck is part of many people's stories. For many, thankfully that is positive and we get to hear of moments when fortune smiled on them.

Follow music, especially local music long enough though and you get to hear some pretty depressing stories. You get your Specials but you also get your Gods Toys: also much tipped for stardom but brought down by ill chance.

I hope you like the music of Alchemista? If so, you are probably frustrated by the obstacles they have had to deal with. If you are a band whose music demands five members & generally members are of an age when other demands on their time are likely to be greater, then losing people is more probable: and so the core trio of Caroline White (lead & harmony vocals and occasional keyboards) Colin Halliwell (drums) and Paul Jayes (piano, keyboards and occasional guitar) have found. Then when every piece seemed in place and recording could be recommenced & gigs scheduled.. well if you were there for our November ‘Hot Music Live Presents' fundraiser for The Tin, and expected to hear them, you'd be aware that three members made it though the floods but two could not. Not exactly great for any band but for one trying to get going again after a long layoff…

The next issue thankfully has been a nicer one as bassist/engineer Aaron Clews who'd finally nailed that role down for the band, became a father & understandably took time off. He'd already done some recording on "Rose From The East", (which is out on all digital platforms on 5th June) and the multi talented Emmy McKissock came in to hold the fort alongside Caroline, Paul, Colin and new guitarist Jerry Foss.

It only gets a little more frustrating when you hear just how good the song is: one sincerely hopes this will kickstart new momentum (though in fairness they are deliberately prioritising recording this year to catch up with what's been written and taking into account the personal demands on members).

Initiated musically by Paul as far back as lockdown, Caroline seized on what he'd come up, heard an "eastern" element within it and decided to use it to channel aspects of part of Philip Pullman's ‘Book of Dust' trilogy ('The Secret Commonwealth') to describe a "journey across the Desert of Karamakan to find the mysterious red building and rare roses rumoured to be there, and maybe some kind of portal where Lyra might meet again with ‘someone she used to know' (her soul-mate and best friend, Will), or at least find her daemon, Pan, who has gone off on his own travels and is also heading that way."

No wonder nearly eight minutes are required for this epic: but then given the association of "eastern" with "timelessness", I think songs which go down that route sound better when longer ("Kashmir" after all is even longer and that doesn't outstay its welcome either). Emmy also stripped the existing recording back to what Caroline described to me as a more "analogue" feel and which I'd call more organic: which suits the song but also Alchemista too. People probably do consider them to be a traditional melodic rock band in several ways & that's fair, but given their penchant for songs which either obviously describe historical settings or at least allude towards them, it seems more natural.

"Rose From The East" is of course very melodic but it's also very hypnotic: a stately and majestic voyage with plenty of space for a proper narrative (and Alchemista's songs are mostly narratives) at a pace you can process.

What the band do is to take the more obvious elements such as the melody & words and (as their name implies), blend in senses of place, time & mood and come up with very strong & individual songs: it helps ensure that whatever general influences & experiences the musicians bring to Alchemista, you don't get a trademark sound which makes their tracks sound similar: each has the right feel and arrangement for what it is and this is really helpful for building a variety of material. This band really do serve the song.

One option for "Rose From The East" might have been an Arabic pastiche with overdubs of instruments to match, but they have gone for something more subtle: a allusive rock song. It brought to mind Squeeze's (admittedly very different) "Take Me I'm Yours" where their own song of a journey across a desert hints at the setting without descending into cultural appropriation.

Check out too the evocative video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGdAnU9C9E4 as well as the excellent cover which was designed by another very talented local musician, Laurel McIntosh.

KC Jones, that is to say Karen & Colin combined, have a new album out today, their third (after ‘Captive' and ‘Roots') and it's called ‘Collection'.

There are dark hints that it might be their last & in that light, some of the features make plenty of sense. I'm going to stick my neck out and say that they've made it for themselves and what's wrong with that?

The evidence is various: there is a definite sense of their having invited friends (such as Keith Donnelly, Bob Powell and Marion Fleetwood) to join in  and to some extent there has been a sort of rummage through their own favourites as suggested by the cover art as much as the tracklisting.

The final effect is of a miscellany ranging from the inclusion of their previously released & well received single "The Apocalyptic Horsemen", through some often radical reworkings of really well known songs (and these definitely weren't necessarily classified as "folk" in their original incarnations) to other newer songs of their own.

As I say, making sense of what they've recorded makes plenty of sense in the context of sharing their own enthusiasms regardless of genre expectations  and wouldn't it be churlish of anyone to criticise these? I hope they will continue writing and recording, but there is plenty of potential in any career for a declaration of "this is who we are". I think that one reason I've rated KC Jones has been their refusal to be restricted by the tyranny of genre, when too many people pander instead to those expectations & are duller and certainly more predictable for so doing. 

Unsurprisingly (unlike a couple of the arrangements which will definitely cause you to raise your eyebrows), the performing is top notch and you will detect plenty of love mixed in with the technique. It's probably worth saying too that although not all of the songs started their various journeys at a place called "folk", that's nevertheless where they've all ended up.

The pair are launching the album on June 4^th at the Godiva Sessions at The Humber in Coventry: I'd imagine some or all of their guests will be there to perform the relevant songs, and given that the event seems to be free, rather good value.

It's a little difficult to describe what this article is about in a few words: it's not a review certainly.

However I was impressed by not just what Sarah (who promotes & DJs under the sobriquet of Alien She) told me but by her sense of positivity & who can resist that?

I'd picked up fragments of what she briefed me on, but not all the parts nor the sense of connectivity. I'd definitely say that whenever I can write about bigger picture issues as well as the talents on individual artists, it's a particular pleasure. Having experienced the highs & lows of the local music scene over the years including dark eras of stagnation, lack of imagination and cliques, I often ramble on at how great it currently is with so many people supporting each other and delighting in each other's music.

And Sarah's tale is one of these for sure: collaboration and what she characterises as a "chain event" and these must lie at the heart of the sustainability we yearn for & the lack of which has ended previous periods of healthy scenes.

So let's start at the beginning of the chain, when Sarah invited UFO Club (from Leeds)  to DJ at the Cov Sauce Hallowe'en event  after seeing them play at ALSO Fest at Compton Verney.

Link number two consisted of UFO reciprocating and asking Sarah & Tom Something to play in Leeds alongside Isis Moray.

At much the same time, Sarah sent Ben at UFO tracks by people he'd met at the Cov Sauce gig and he passed the Paradise of the Titans material by Alice Weston onto Jade (Isis Moray) who consequently will be putting out her next release on the Holy Crow label (which has also featured Alys Rain).  While Alice will be remixing one of Ben's songs from his new EP.

Actually the chain analogy is getting a bit strained now with things happening concurrently so maybe a web?

The next strands/links will be Sarah & Alice playing with Isis & Ben in Sheffield in July with hopefully another reciprocation in Coventry to follow.

And this is just a start of bilateral support. No wonder Sarah is so pleased as each small & achievable step has led to another, drawn in others & looks capable of growing steadily and sustainably.

I tend to celebrate what's going on in Coventry & Warwickshire because that's what I write about in this magazine and it's about as large a catchment as a single person can even begin to monitor at any reasonable sort of depth. I often get feedback from other areas: sometimes people are a bit envious of us because their region isn't as thriving, other times I hear of people working along parallel lines.

What must be the case however is that by forging mutually supportive local partnerships, it benefits everyone. Without doubt, the most frustrating thing for me (and the artists) is when they conquer their immediate area but cannot easily break out into the wider picture: I delight whenever I learn of people managing gigs elsewhere.

A few of these manage the feat by the traditional means: sheer weight of talent & getting the break of it being spotted by someone with influence. New networks and opportunities have definitely been generated by, for example, the BIMMs which increasing numbers of our musicians have studied out. Relocation helps too: it's great to see how many London gigs both Banoffee and HomeBread are playing since they established a base there.

Festivals probably represent the single most helpful driver for breaking out of one's home area and again, I enjoy seeing artists we cover being invited to a great variety of these.

So if you add in the idea of bilateral links with other areas such as Sarah is experiencing, a bit like the concept of town twinning, deep and long term relationships can offer fairly easily the chance to catch each other's talents live & then if you manage additional benefits such as the record label support, then what is the limit to what might be achieved with imagination & openness to fresh music? Clearly ego needs to be left at the door: the mindset which builds cliques has nothing to contribute to such a relationship. The equality of giving & taking required seems obvious for this to work.

This may be a good moment to pop in a mention of Strummer Room Records Presents who put on live original music at The Apothecary Tap in Banbury twice a month plus the annual ApTap Fest and who have regularly invited Coventry & Warwickshire artists to play: and we're talking ones of the class of  Concrete Fun House, Gutter Puppy, Project Overload, Duck Thieves, The Caroline Bomb and Shanghai Hostage in the last few months alone.

This is not yet the same directly reciprocating engine as described above but it does strengthen the bonds between the two scenes and since bands of the class of Dolly Mavies and Liam Vincent and the Odd Foxes have travelled in the opposite direction so to speak, is certainly representative of developing ties.

So I really look forward to others getting involved in the existing exchange programme but also in maybe taking the model & trying it with other areas: I think the possibilities are very exciting.

Regardless of all this (though really: please don't actually disregard it), the simple fact that it has so stimulated one of the most enthusiastic promoters of our local music to tell me that  "it's the best thing I've been involved within the last year and made me think this is what it's all about" should commend it to you by itself.

Incidentally, Alien She is playing at the Coventry Pride After Party on 27^th June at The Box at FarGo.