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For ages, an Ellie Gowers gig at The Tin would have seemed a suitably prestigious gig for one of the area's foremost artists. Now however, her career is taking off in ways which while retaining the artist & the venue as a partnership, refigures the context to be a home area stop on a national tour whose last stops were Sheffield, Manchester & Cardiff & her next in London: promoting her brand new EP (please see my review) ‘You, The Passenger'. Indeed last night's concert (supported by Tarragon) was the first since the official release yesterday.

As I mentioned in my EP review, her star rising in this manner is something I've anticipated & hoped for over a period of years: she has also recently played in Canada & the Netherlands so has an international following now too.

When I saw her at Warwick Folk Festival in the summer, she was with her new trio (with Joss Mann-Hazell on bass guitar & double bass and Scarlett Churchill on drums) but on this occasion, she was in solo mode.

Although she played the entire new EP, the more acoustic setting (with a detour onto electric guitar for a few numbers mid-set) meant that she opened with three tracks from the more folky ‘Dwelling by the Weir' album and built the dynamics from there.

There were plenty of revelatory moments amongst the set: Ellie's songs have never stayed terribly static in arrangement or performance.

The brooding "The Sky is on Fire" was played on electric guitar (I'd never heard it that way live before) which gave it a real blues edge: she slowed it down & this accentuated the apocalyptic feel.

Five of the six songs off ‘You, The Passenger' were featured in Ellie's February acoustic showcase of new material at Warwick Arts Centre, so I recognised them in their stripped back forms as well as the fuller recorded ones. However she didn't play the title track at that concert and so the Joni Mitchell-esque version was an eye (well ear) opener.

The inclusion of "Eva" from the ‘Parting Breath' EP was one she slipped in for local fans and appreciated accordingly as was "The Stars Are Ours" which is now well established in her sets as the audience participation number.

The other big first for me was my seeing Ellie in what was technically a standing gig: the demand for tickets precluding seating in a venue easily filled by the attraction of seeing her (though some enterprising individuals resourced chairs from elsewhere for their ease). Given how danceable some of the songs now entering her repertoire are, maybe a sign of things to come?

I suppose that I tend to use expressions like "sublime" about Ellie Gowers gigs: well nothing changes there. Given the convergence of her writing & performing talents and then displaying them in a comparatively intimate & packed setting, curated superbly by Ian Whitehead before friends and family, what else could I describe it as?

Back in February, I noted that her trademark stamping/dancing on the new songs was absent (Ellie put this down to concentration) but you'll be pleased to note that familiarity with them has now reinstated her demonstration of passion in this way: the only concession to personal development being the substitution from the Dr Martens she used to wear onstage to stylish ankle boots: the effect was much the same though.

So there you have Ellie in a nutshell: passionate and sublime. Pretty compelling as a package isn't it?

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Out today is Ellie Gowers' much anticipated new EP called 'You, the Passenger'.

Its constituent tracks are "A Moment", "Love in a Park (on a Sunday Afternoon)", "I Can be Right for You", (all of which have already appeared in their individual right as singles), "You, the Passenger", "Testing The Water" and "Sorrow": all of these, bar the title track appeared at her February gig/work in progress showcase at Warwick Arts Centre and so her concept of this collection has clearly been in her mind all year.

Given that I've already offered my thoughts on the three singles, on this occasion I'll focus on the trio making their official recorded debut.

As noted during my appreciation of the singles, Ellie is without doubt a progressive artist whose sense of personal creative journey & self-challenge is as fierce as her commitment to her songs and their performance. This collection is a quantum leap forward (again) and admired as she is in the folk music world, the best I can say is that this multi-faceted artist has her roots in folk while other parts of her are in other places.

I predicted (and indeed hoped) back in 2021 (if not earlier) when another paradigm shift EP came out (‘Parting Breath') that Ellie would soon become a national/international rather than local phenomenon. Of course COVID19 disrupted everyone's trajectory around then and the momentum was frustratingly slowed. That Ellie put her enforced seclusion to excellent use by recording an unplanned album of Warwickshire social history  (‘Dwelling by the Weir') muddied the waters still further:  the situation limited her to a simpler folk style & to be honest the material demanded it, but it looked like a deliberate reversion to her earlier styles when it was really just a one off diversion.

Therefore one might say that 'You, the Passenger' is the successor to ‘Parting Breath' and I think that is a key to grasping her movement forwards.

Consequently, there is a much fuller cast of participants than on ‘Dwelling by the Weir' and this seems a good point in the review to mention them all. Ellie is responsible for all vocals and acoustic guitars, Hazel Mills plays the piano,  Alex Thomas the drums, producer & engineer TJ Allen plays the electric guitars, bass guitar, Rhodes & piano, Drew Morgan created the string arrangements, Emily Dore plays the viola, Risa Michelle Sekine the violin, Lucy Samuels the 'cello and Holly Brandon, Blair Dunlop and Bella Gafney provide backing vocals. The EP was recorded at J & J Studios in Bristol and mastered by Shawn Joseph at Optimum Mastering.

With lesser talents, extra musicians might serve to dilute the passion: Ellie has the attributes which ensure that instead these collaborators amplify what she has written & help her to draw out the potential of her songs.


I'll need to repeat a comment made in an earlier review since considering the whole EP makes patterns easier to see. My point is that hitherto, Ellie's passions have pretty much been in regard of the well being of others: individually & collectively. Her consideration of her own situation (with the glaring exception of the unrecorded "For a While") has definitely taken second place.

Well she is now loving herself a little more: but don't worry, there is no selfishness on view. Her care for the world still shines through brightly.

Part of the change seems to reflect a discovery of the benefits of mindfulness: as previously noted in lead single "A Moment" and I guess "Love in a Park (on a Sunday Afternoon)" also reflects her commitment to a carpe diem state of mind. This in turn opens up space in her life amongst the caring for others & the planet for the subject matter of "I Can be Right for You".

There is a coming together of threads in "Testing the Water" (inspired by her realisation of the implications of her bathing in Atlantic waters (rather her than me) on both the Canadian & British shores: in some ways an intensely personal epiphany but at the same time characteristic Ellie in spotting links & bigger picture perspectives of the world. It's achingly beautiful and one wonders if it might be another single?

However the title track is even more of a potential release in its own right. Like "Love in a Park (on a Sunday Afternoon)", this is Ellie a long way outside the boundaries of popularly perceived folk: it's another one totally accessible to fans of folk and pop alike while actually being one of her deepest (and that's saying a lot) songs: ostensibly addressing her many recent travels (how much she is relishing her freedom after the obvious frustrations of lockdown), it also serves her other interests as a metaphor for us all being passengers on this planet.

If  that track is Ellie as philosopher, then album closer "Sorrow" is her as poet. This is the most intellectually dense track on the record & I'll be honest that I'm still unpacking its layers. There really was no other place on the EP as it's impossible to follow.

It's definitely very personal and links in with her long time ornithological obsession, following singing of robins & falcons with on this occasion magpies. "There's only so much that a magpie can take" presumably has a nod towards materialism but how this fits together with reflections on the passage of time & the emotion alluded to in the title is something which only repeated plays will unlock for me: or quite possibly you. Whatever she is telling us, her delivery makes clear that it is something she believes strongly in: but that's Ellie Gowers isn't it?

'You, the Passenger' is the culmination of her work to date & so if you want to call it her masterpiece, then please do. I know however that she'll top even this with her next one.

 

Ellie will be playing tomorrow at The Tin as part of her national tour: I think that it's not unreasonable to anticipate many of these fine songs appearing in her setlist.

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Were you aware that Coventry has had a choir singing songs from the cultures of the world a cappella? You probably were but to my shame, I only found out about WorldSong relatively recently thanks to Diana Stefanescu whom you will know as a Duck Thief and for her photographic & videographic work with the likes of Shanghai Hostage & Septic and the Tanks & hopefully her non-music related artwork too.

That they have been going for a quarter of a century only makes my ignorance deeper.

The good news is that they have been working with producer Mason Le Long & have a full album which they hope to share next month: it's called (appropriately enough) ‘Together As One: A Celebration of Community Singing'.

If you wish to have a taste of what they do, they have a track out as a single already: it's called  "Kaval Sviri" and is their arrangement of a Bulgarian folk song. I don't speak Bulgarian but my researches have led me to discover that the lyric concerns someone who is delighted to hear a kaval (a type of flute played in the Balkans) playing & resolves to love the player.

Now as someone who respects anyone who can sing this perfectly unaccompanied, in what is presumably an unfamiliar language to most if not all of them, I'm greatly impressed already. Factor in the community aspect & diversity of song sources (Diana advises that the album will contain more than just Bulgarian songs: others will come from places including Australia, South Africa and Romania) and it's hard to come up with a more complete description of what I feel I ought to be writing about for you.

You may not speak Bulgarian either, but I think you'll be moved by  "Kaval Sviri" too.

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The latest single ("Psycho") by Abz Winter is available for your enjoyment from tomorrow (Friday) in case you were not already aware.

I've said it before, but it really is such a feature of Abz's work that ignoring it would lessen the accuracy of any review, one of the major features of her growing body of music is how she progresses every time: keeping her songs direct & accessible, yet not slipping into a set formula. Consequently when she cited this one to me as a personal favourite, you can measure her own awareness of her development.

 Another important factor which I also believe is most important in reflecting this growth is that it is driven by her own personal life arc.

A few years ago, Abz released a whole sequence of compelling pop singles, each of which tended to tell a powerful story. I was more than a little worried for what I feared that she was going through to inspire these songs, but she put my mind at rest, explaining that the experiences were those of various friends which she used to create interesting songs: her own life had not then generated material of this nature (she was still in her teens).

Time has moved on & so has Abz & consequently what you hear her singing about now is closer to her own direct observations: which must add to the depth of the truth in her lyrics.

Part of the intervening period was spent in London (always a good source for a certain type of story) and the central character of "Psycho" is a friend she had there "who was really mean after a few drinks". Hence the song's title (judging by the name of the file Abz sent me, I think the original title must have been "Psycho Bitch"). The consequences being "..rarely pretty, usually sloppy and generally lead to friendships ending not to mention sometimes injury and mental distress…".

Just as the words in her songs have evolved to evoke the new topics she is discovering, her music continues along the new, much punchier & harder trajectory of recent releases (listen out for her doubling the guitar solo with screaming). More & more singing with a band rather than just over an accompaniment, Abz still has the high energy approach of her earliest performances but now it seems like her natural talents & musical inclinations have found their true home: and she's still using the power of her voice with taste & discretion.

Discretion is also there in other aspects of her work. Abz doesn't pull her verbal jabs, but even so tends to provide two versions of most songs: one a little more earthy in the choice of language used to get her point across & a second for younger listeners & to get radio play. Equally & ethically while calling people out, there is less a sense of judgement & more one of exasperation: in this case maybe a case of tough love to help her friend address her less attractive behaviours? At any rate, and I admit that I've said this before too, however unrestrained the language, Abz never comes across as unpleasant herself: her true character shines through her songs.

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After the deserved success of Man Made Moon's recent single "McNultys Bar",  their dynamic singles campaign will move onto number two, "Brass Knuckles" on November 15th.

 If the current single made its mark by being so very different both from their previous music and from what people may have expected, then the next one heads off in another direction altogether.

A slow burning soul number, "Brass Knuckles" shares some of Man Made Moon's trademark intensity yet is more sinewy than their ethereal extra-terrestrial approach to emotions has hitherto been. Whether the muscular artwork (again courtesy of Greengaia) is a nod towards this or the subject matter, I cannot say.

It's sinuous too: while the arrangement is robust (you can taste the sweat) and takes the song to a much more rocky place than usual, it is clear that all concerned (included an excellent guitar solo) are following the bass line: even if ironically that instrument isn't mixed terribly high.

This sort of emoting is hard to pull off convincingly: while striving for communication of profound feelings, artists can go too far and end up with over the top histrionics which persuade no-one of their honesty. This is a real bête noire for me as a reviewer & tends to turn me away from reviewing the offending items at all.

Where Man Made Moon score in this respect is by drawing on their past material: people who have heard their previous songs & recognised their integrity will trust them emotionally now they have gone more full-on. Had this been a debut single, then that element would not have been in place, so the transition in sound & style has been well sequenced.

Obviously having a soul song that listeners will invest in needs more than just the playing & singing: it needs a subject of the necessary intensity too. "Brass Knuckles" (and the title points you in the right direction before you start) is quite a twisted & dark love song: one lyric is that the narrator "feel(s) so much better now: the pill's kicked". That I think encapsulates the gist neatly. I think you can put it down to the torment & deeper pits of despair that walk hand in hand with romantic/carnal attraction all too often.

The band seem to be relishing stretching their wings in these new songs (which is great to notice) and rigid adherence even to a trademark style leads to diminishing returns in time. I suppose the band may revert, or go with either of the two directions they've teased of late: my guess is that they'll embrace a wide range of styles & use whichever one best suits whatever song they are working on at a particular time.

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If you've been following my reviews of Euan Blackman, then you'll be aware that he's been building towards his third EP namely ‘Thunderstorms' via a series of singles which appear upon it: "NOTHING2U", "Butterfly",  "I Don't Think About It (Too Much)" and "Sneak Attack",

Well the full EP is now out, containing the above songs plus the title track itself. Given that I've already told you about 80% of the songs (please do feel welcome to refresh your memory), today I'm looking specifically at the latter as it's less known to us all.

Coming out again on Ripe Records, the song not only completes the collection but seals this chapter in his career: one which has seen him jump forwards from what we might reasonably have assumed to be a signature sound: this is a much more extrovert Euan and given the inherent loudness of the weather phenomenon he's writing about here, that sums the EP up: to put it crudely, calling it ‘Thunderstorms' prepares you for new loud Euan.

He's also articulating this extroversion by greatly increasing the types of music he's folding into his repertoire: as noted in the previous four reviews, he's delving more & more into new (for him) areas & these inevitably are bound to increase accessibility to his music and grow his audience. We're definitely talking a pop sensibility these days & he says how much he enjoyed the process of making it which comes through in what we hear.

Specifically, "Thunderstorms" the song is sonically an electro pop song with catchy hooks and his previously prominent guitar banished from the front of the mix behind ranks of keyboards. Like its predecessor, "Sneak Attack", the 1980s seem to be a key source. It's long too compared with his earlier work.

Lyrically though it's not actually an evocation of thunder & lightning as such, but a romantic piece centred around the notion of thunderstorms clearing the air (or indeed that such an idea is a fallacy in his eyes). The chorus was inspired by E M Forster he tells us.

Consequently the retention of the characteristic Euan "wispy" vocal sound not only maintains continuity with what's gone before (as does the blurry cover art), but fits what he's singing about here. However if his newly found eclecticism continues then he may need to adjust this: though I do detect (I think) a relative emergence from the ether here.

I really cannot predict what his next set of songs will sound like…

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There is quite an argument in favour of saying that we don't have sufficient opportunities to write about one of our area's most talented & original artists, Katherine Abbott.

Part of that is how busy she is & giving of her time to others: most notably her work with Street Arts Project and the spin off group of professional musicians involved, namely WLDFLWRS: I look forwards to reviewing their debut EP of original music in time for Christmas.

A second explanation is that she is a perfectionist: her songs have no ragged edges but achieve their blissful ambience through both inspiration & consequent honing. Katherine is one of those artists who not only nail the words & music but then transcend the sum of those parts with an additional level of creativity so that you can derive much just from the mood & overall effect of what you are listening to. No wonder "Lullaby for Lucas", one of her few previous singles (and it's featured on ‘Hot Music Live Presents Volume Nine ‘ also) is so highly rated: not least by other musicians. It's telling too that her rendition of "Coyote" by Joni Mitchell at the Street Arts "Last Waltz" charity concert also caught the ears of aficionados: not many people can pull off covers of that musician which also reflect the same "more than just words & tune" transcendence.

The third factor is that while rooted in and contributing to her local community, Katherine balances this out with a lot of travelling & playing around the country & the world. "Lullaby for Lucas" was famously inspired by a Spanish adventure and she returned and played only recently, followed by playing in Wales. I also reported on how I missed a planned gig as her journey back from Germany was delayed: and those are only a few instances I'm aware of in the past few months.

The most significant though for our purposes here was her recent US tour as it gave birth to her new single, "Wings on Fire" (sorry it took a while to work round to that): specifically on the Oregon leg of her trip & even more precisely in Lone Fir Cemetery, Portland's oldest such space. I'm pretty sure I've never written on  any songs composed either in Oregon nor a cemetery previously.

Though she accepts that there might be a perception that such a place to write might be seen as being  "..a little morbid, but I find cemeteries very peaceful and inspiring places and seek them out for sanctuary.." (the cemetery in question also functions as an arboretum).

In her own words: "It was the morning, and the sun was streaming through the trees. I sat down with my guitar almost in a trance, and the song just came out of me, like a crystal clear signal on a radio. Sometimes it can take me weeks, months, even years to finish a song, but in this case, I had the bare bones down that morning, and after putting pen to paper and focusing as hard as I could, the song was finished in its entirety by the night time."

This explanation certainly accounts for the wholly dreamlike & dream inducing vibe of the song (though this is a characteristic Katherine excels in and has demonstrated in songs presumably written elsewhere than graveyards). To return again to the mood & ambience, if you are looking to induce a state of mindfulness or destress, you can play "Wings on Fire" and it does the trick. I'd hate to think that anyone might use it to put someone else into a hypnotic trance, but it might also do that. It has sort of done that to me already, though I assume that I've emerged from that state: at least I hope so. This however by no means is a track in no contact with the ground: it posseses an enchanting melody which will stay in your mind long after hearing it.

I suppose the song is an Icarus themed one: meditating upon soaring so high in one's own blissful state of mind that danger enters the potential equation. It's all very thoughtful, philosophical stuff but that's what we expect from Katherine & I get the impression that she does a lot of deep thinking. Just when does detaching yourself from the baseness of "reality" cease to be inspirational & morphs into peril? That it comes out on Bonfire Night must be no coincidence.

Her instrumental playing (at least everything I've ever heard her play) accentuates the dreaminess and euphoria but nothing like as much as her vocals do: producer Joshua Woolf has aided & abetted her preference for the unearthly and in this case pretty spiritual. Certainly her voice is unmistakeable: it's a rare singer whom one can pick instantly regardless of knowing the song or not and what's also worth noting is how she utterly disproves the notion that quality of singing is somehow linked to the volume one can generate. Katherine says more at a low volume than many others who try & win plaudits for loudness of gimmicky acrobatics. She sings the truth: and given what she writes, a deep truth at that.

Quite apart from her WLDFLWRS songs (and there are some exciting live events featuring Katherine which you should look out for), I do gather that more releases are planned: certainly within a closer timeframe than the four years since her last. Katherine Abbott songs are exquisite gems, cut & polished to perfection. That degree of rarity of course enhances their value still further, but we could still use a few more without the currency declining.

Check out the delightful video too at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBACQmMpUns

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As noted in yesterday's review of Duck Thieves' 10th birthday gig, they do more or less have a new single (produced by Mason Le Long) out to mark the milestone.

I say "more or less" because thanks to the mysterious workings of platforms, this has a particularly soft launch: as of the time of writing, Spotify haven't put it up, though it can be found on most of the other ones.

Duck Thieves fans will already know "Hydroquinone Queen": not only did they perform it on Saturday, but it also featured  on the ‘20 Years of Joy: Volume 3' compilation earlier this year.

As ever with the band, they are addressing a serious issue and to demonstrate their commitment, have managed to write a song which centres round a word one might expect to be very tricky to include in a lyric which could be readily sung. But of course they pulled it off with aplomb. I don't know how many vocal takes it took to get it rolling off the tongue this smoothly but in concert they've got it nailed down.

Presented in a sort of gothic horror movie soundtrack style (which reflects the movie setting of the tale), the whole piece can be seen as an experiment in challenging the singers' skills: exaggerated vocalisms, octave jumping melodies & high speed tongue twisters abound.

Lyrically the song deals with a range of issues of victimisation in terms of cosmetic applications and techniques (the substance from which the song takes its title is used to lighten skin pigmentation: it can be used to deal with small blemishes but can be abused as more general "bleaching" practices which brings us fully into areas of racial as well as gender identity). The targets are widespread (including the film business) in contexts both of direct oppression and manipulation and wider indirect versions for which media & cultures bear responsibilities.

Taking into account all their songs released in 2024 (including their much applauded ‘Eyes Up Here' EP), I wonder whether Duck Thieves high wire act balancing profundity of insight with theatricality of musical vehicle is getting ever more audacious? Certainly this one packs so many ideas into just three and a half minutes while sounding as much like opera as pop. Their artistic ambition is simply soaring.

Talking of ‘Eyes Up Here', they have another release raring to go: a remix of the title track so watch out for that one too.

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As I've noted before, the role of a reviewer, or at least their scope is evolving.

Whereas upon a time there were distinct releases such as singles or EPs or albums, artefacts one could touch & hold (what one would call hard copies now though the expression would once have been baffling), nowadays the situation is more blurry.

Music appears  online & all can be played in much the same way, but depending on the platform or route you take, it might have the status of anything from a commercial release via the biggest of corporations to something constructed & put online in the same bedroom. Hence some are there to try to earn their creator a crust (or given streaming income, a crumb), others just to test the waters & gain a response. Most of the music I review in ‘Hot Music Live' falls into the former category, not least because it's easier to spot, but a fair amount (including tracks on the ‘Hot Music Live Presents' compilations originally appeared on Soundcloud, YouTube or similar.

Hence I needed to check the status of "Nighttime Budget" (which you can find at https://audio.com/nathan-wade/audio/nathan-wade-nighttime-budget) with Nathan Wade who made it. Broadly we can categorise it as "not a single really but at any rate a new piece of original music just as deserving of exploration".

The joy about having such complete control over your own music leaves wide open options free from interference from others. Hence although this track is a keyboard centred instrumental, he is considering adding vocals & guitar. That sounded to me as if he considered that the track was unfinished, but that isn't the case as far as his being happy for this review to be written: which leaves us the pleasant possibility of talking about it again in an altered state.

Nathan is well known for his membership of punk band Creaking Twitch (in which he deploys those guitars & vocals) but this is not just a side project exploring another aspect of his musical interest ("I've always had an interest in electronic sound and sampling, ranging from 80s synth classics to 2000s hip-hop and then drum and bass of more modern times, particularly with bands like Prodigy and Pendulum that sort of blend that electronic sounds with alternative music/heavy rock/metal"). He is also flexible enough to play this sort of material live by himself (he's played "Nighttime Budget" at CovSauce) but managed (when drummer Izzy couldn't make it) to do so in the context of a Creaking Twitch gig: which presumably surprised their audience.

It's hard to describe instrumental music (at least I always feel slightly uncomfortable when I have no lyrical cues for suggesting "what it's about") and I'm not sure the music is meant to directly evoke what many people se as evening moods: it's too perky compared with the sultry approach which spring to mind. However that doesn't really mean anything does it? The music stands or falls on its own merits & its "meaning" is probably something further removed from the sort of lounge jazzy cliché of other night based instrumentals.

If anything, the sound is quite retro (in electronic terms) which reflects both what I quoted from Nathan above and what we went on to tell me. I was particularly taken with his honest admission "…that I've found making electronic music to be boring and tedious. Using various different types of software and DAWs on my laptop- feeling as inspired as making an Excel spreadsheet…". Hats off to him for saying what needed saying. How many of us have waded through tracks with all the charisma of a spreadsheet?

So why did he change his mind? Back to the artist: "That was until I came across the Novation Circuit Tracks! I saw Tom Simkins perform with one and it inspired me to purchase my own. It's a beautiful piece of kit, 4 drum tracks, 2 synth tracks and 2 tracks for external midi instruments if you wish. Capable of making as many 16 step loops as you like, with lots of in built instruments but loads of scope for your own samples and customisation and filtering on the fly. It feels like playing an actual musical instrument rather than making a spreadsheet. It started out as "just for fun" but I'd really like to mix it into more stuff that I do."

You see now why I wanted to share what he was doing with you? IT has in many ways empowered independent creators & freed them from the constraints and costs associated with making release-quality tracks. However this does not automatically equate to a similar quality of imagination. Recently, I've been contending with having people approach me to review AI generated content: you'll hopefully be pleased that I've declined. However Nathan very articulately shares how his initial scepticism has evolved into showing him how to use these tools to create music as meaningful as he would with a guitar & which he considers on a par with that created by Creaking Twitch in terms of authenticity.

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Only a few weeks after seeing Duck Thieves help celebrate FarGo's tenth birthday, it's their turn to reach a similar milestone. Given that tin is the emblem for anniversaries of that duration, how appropriate it is that they had a party at The Tin their "spiritual home". Given the immense care & effort they put into stage props etc, you'd not be in the least surprised at the profusion of decorations they'd festooned the venue with: and they had provided a vegan buffet too and party hats for all.

Support came from Live On Stage band Luminae: appropriate given that the project is based there & appreciated given that they are very much on my radar for following (it's worth noting at this point that another band from the project whom I'm also keen on reporting on, What About Eric? are also getting more and more gig opportunities & have their debut release on the horizon).

You would not have known that this was the debut gig for their new bass player Robin (one issue for Live On Stage bands is that members leave for university & other career paths which is what happened here), so assured was she & her melodic bass lines brought interesting aspects to the arrangements. In fact the band (as Live On Stage bands seem to do) had evolved since I saw them a few months ago: despite the line-up issue, they've built up a most impressive groove in their playing: a difficult aspect to rigidly define yet alone play & something which bands of far greater time together do not necessarily demonstrate.

Luminae are part of the future of Coventry & Warwickshire music: it's all terribly exciting: keep an eye open for their future gigs & I believe releases are being planned to, having been working with Mason Le Long (who oversaw the excellent sound last night with the assistance of Lucas Male of Project Overload & Loophole).

Well Duck Thieves have been around a while & they certainly groove: which must be doubly difficult given the theatrical cavorting so many members pull off while playing: beats don't get missed. However for all younger musicians reading, I'd better add a note of caution at this point: totally uninhibited exuberance in the joy of performance may add to the excitement of the gig, but if you choose to leave the stage for the audience space mid-song by jumping off it & over the monitors, you may land awkwardly & hurt your leg as most unfortunately Michelle discovered. She most gamely carried on perched on a stool, her enthusiasm barely dimmed, but she certainly looked in pain….

It was a special gig & so the set you may have witnessed recently was tweaked not merely to include a new song but to mark the ten years of making music, old favourites like set closer "Nowa Huta" (from 2016) were welcomed back with appropriately enough founder member Cait joining the band onstage.

My issue with covering this band is to do with visuals: every song seems to involve different props or costume changes or both: which offers far more photo opportunities than your average band. Unfortunately actually capturing much of this is another thing altogether: the movement is ceaseless. As noted, members seem to regard the stage merely as a departure point & they are rarely all present upon it. Even when they are, they dash about & gambol without pause. Justin's use of an exercise bike helps anchor him briefly: except they didn't deploy it on this occasion nor did they perform "The Birds": I was hoping to get another shot at trying to capture at least some of the glories of Michelle & Diana's ballet in glittering capes off & onstage to a higher standard than I'd ever managed before: it'll have to be next time I suppose.

The set reminded us how Duck Thieves have always blended/balanced really quite serious song themes with a party performance…. It is perhaps an example of applying the yin yang concept of achieving harmony through balancing: but it clearly works given the longevity of their appeal & the prestige of the gigs offered them: and given that they include supporting The Specials, Extinction Rebellion & Love Music, Hate Racism etc, no-one should doubt how this band stands up for its principles as much in concert as on record.

I attempted to pin members of the band down on the significance of the milestone and after some characteristic understatement ("the important thing is that no-one died"), Justin, who has been there for the whole journey, told me "I don't feel that I've done it for ten years" and emphasised the effect of the COVID19 enforced break & the efforts of regrouping afterwards (he was not clear in his own mind that the band would or could resume: the Cathedral gigs with The Specials  and supporting Zarah Sultana played a significant part in reinforcing morale).

In terms of pinning down their appeal, they offered me: "I think that they like the fact that we are entertaining and our songs have impact….they have emotional content.. the songs have to mean something to me otherwise I wouldn't get on stage" and "they seem authentic because they are about things which happened to us".

Don't worry though: this is not a wrap on the Duck Thieves, merely a pause for acknowledging their first decade. They have more gigs lined up,(next one is at the LTB Showrooms on November 9th for the relaunch of "Love Music, Hate Racism" in Coventry)  a new single ("Hydroquinone Queen" which sneaked out on the ‘20 Years of Joy: Volume 3' compilation but is now a single in its own right: hence its inclusion on the setlist tonight presumably) and another forthcoming release in the form of a remix of one of their most potent songs.

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Out today is the brand new Green Hands single named "Eyes to the Skies" via Leamington's Stingo Collective.

Recorded with Patch Murphy (whose own song "Those Ways" attracted much positive comment when it featured on ‘Hot Music Live Presents Volume Thirteen'), it was in fact laid down during the sessions for last year's ‘Another Life or Two' EP, but held back until now for release as it was felt that it wouldn't be a snug enough fit within that collection.

The cover art is a bit of a hint to the theme of this beautiful haunting song: as Jack Telford puts it: "..it's inspired by stories of my grandmother and her family moving from south-west Ireland to a new life in England in the 40s and 50s. She would still talk about going ‘home' even after 70-odd years across the sea. Miss her."

Unsurprisingly given its theme, this is a really beautiful, haunting song. Fortunately as my series of admiring reviews repeatedly emphasises, Jack is one of the area's best songwriters (high time he got his full due in my opinion) since material this personal can be transcendent in its power when conveyed with taste & delicacy: too often people fall short in their emotional ambition & produce sentimentality or worse.

Two more thoughts: firstly they were right to hold "Eyes to the Skies" back from the EP: it's just too powerful a song to be bundled with others. The only possible option is to give it its own place in the spotlight.

Secondly, a key to the impact of the song is its simplicity & the fact that it's only Jack (guitar & vocals) and Patch (drums, bass and backing vocals) playing, gives the actual performance the intimacy it requires.

Not that it is really a ballad as my words so far might have suggested. If anything, the tone most approaches the melodic rock pioneered by the likes of Peter Green-led Fleetwood Mac back in an era Jack has referenced before. There may be few instruments here but they contribute mightily, from the soft insistent drums to the gorgeous intertwining guitar & bass melodies.

Jack advises me that Green Hands are currently "hibernating" given that this time sees "some band members go gallivanting across to foreign shores" yet I'm sure their absence now would not have impacted the original recording lineup nearly two years ago: that would have been an artistic call & a good one at that.

If songs like "Carrickfergus" can make your eye a little moist with its evocation of the past, of lost childhood and of the natural beauty of Erin, then this one will potentially do much the same. Would that all of us have songs like this written in tribute. I imagine she'd be both proud & profoundly moved.

In the meantime, pending a planned full album for 2025, the release of a track this strong keeps this very fine band in our consciousness

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When I told you about the Stegosaurus Sex Party  EP ‘Helicopter Party Trick' in July 2023, I picked out the track "Wanking to Natural Disasters" as a high point. Its provocative title leads you into a serious matter: the repugnant spectacle of armchair observers who get aroused by the suffering of others as relayed via the media: especially television. Sometimes they try & mask their prurient interest by claiming to be viewing out of compassion but it doesn't fool this band. I guess, looking at the various online television schedules, one might also consider consumers of war porn & true crime as coming close to where they are aiming. And as for the companies churning all this emotionally dubious product out….

I'm pleased therefore to report that the band have released the track as a single today: and not only is it available on a "name your price" basis via Bandcamp, but it's different to the EP version being a "Batley Frontier 1979 Petrol Bastard Remix"

The remix is by Ben from the Leeds-based techno-punk band/duo Petrol Bastard "which he did because he very wanted to and not 'cause he needed to whore his talents for a fairground organ".

Well he certainly threw his heart & talents into the remix as unlike many other remixes I listen to, he's radically revised the sound (and it clocks in at thirteen seconds longer too) without detracting from the piquant thrust of the original. Stegosaurus Sex Party fans: you really do need both versions.

Unsurprisingly, Ben's taken the song in an electro-punk direction: which works just fine. Is it just a remix? I suspect new overdubs but I'm not quibbling. The new setting of the bass in particular is worth checking it out for & it's hardly surprising that the band want him to work his magic on all their songs in future as he makes them "at least 69% better".

The sound is perhaps more listener-friendly as regards discerning the words (though even if the words can be heard, if they are as obscure as those on "Beanz" it doesn't always solve every conundrum) and injects variety into the full-on onslaught which presumably will continue to characterise live performances.

In terms of the latter, I'm pleased that after the frustrations the band shared with me when I started reviewing them, relating to insufficient local opportunities, more promoters are showcasing their talents: for example you can catch them on 9th November at the free ‘No Peace' event at Leamington's Fusilier organised by Louis Scheuer of the sadly now defunct Hedcheese.

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