Starring
Birds in the Brickwork, The Che Men, Everyone Says Hi, Harald Grosskopf, Lazy Day, Night Flight,
The Front Runners
Twelve Months (Vol 2) : Birds In The Brickwork
This collection of gentle ambient music is part of a three year music and photography project undertaken by Ben Holton. He’s clearly a man who believes in the transformative and regenerative power of music.
You won’t hear this shouted about from the rooftops. That’s the polar opposite of what it does. This is the soundtrack to moments when you pause and notice the beauty, warmth and good things all around you. It’s music that provides a place of safety, a favourite spot, an unexpected, sun dappled bench with a gorgeous view. It’s for those moments when you catch your children playing happily together unobserved. And it’s for the birth of small memories that will come to mean a lot.
Birds In The Brickwork provide ambient music of the loveliest kind. This is not ambient music intended for meditation or for finding mindfulness, although if that’s what you’re looking for, go ahead. Holton has an eye for detail, for noticing things and he’s offering his view to you. He’s made music for people, not for mushrooms or growing plants. You sense that he’s not bothered about achieving mass popularity, although he certainly deserves it.
There’s a quiet inevitability about how these pieces progress. No alarms, no unexpected diversions, no fuss. Unlike some ambient works of nature, there’s no reliance on bird song or church bells to create a tome and atmosphere. (Birdsong does feature on ‘October (Leaf Revery)’ but it’s proportionate and not overdone.)
‘January (Brittle Hope Remains)’ is a wondrous piece of music to open the album, all rich synths wrapped in electronic layers and touches as delicate as silk. ‘February (In Blue Light)’ is a little noodly but it captures an appealing watchfulness. ‘May (Rebirthing Dance)’ carries echoes of the traditional folk of Merrie Old England. ’April (Still Here)’, ‘July (Far From Home)’, ‘August (Another Summer Gone)’ - they’re all simply great tunes that, taken together, inspire sweet regret at the passing of time.
This album feels like a gift, expecting nothing in return. Pass it on.
Taster Track : August (Another Summer Gone)
Echoes of the 30s : The Che Men
If, in some dark, distant future, music is rationed and a diktat is issued that you can only follow one genre of music, my choice will be for the genre practised by the Che Men.
There’s two reasons for that. First it takes me back to the music I grew up with as a teenager, and still claim as my own today. This is the sound of the music explosion that occurred in the wake of punk - concerned, angry even, but coated with the sweet zing of pop that rendered it eminently listenable and wholly memorable. It’s the spoonful of sugar that allowed heartfelt protests to slip down a little more easily.
It’s a harsh truth that so many of the bands at the time never received the credit or the following that their songs deserved. The Che Men though, share DNA with bands such as The Piranhas, The Times, The V.I.P.s and The Farmer’s Boys. You can add bigger names to that list too - The Housemartins and, especially, The (English) Beat. What they share is a knack of making songs that will blow away the clouds, energise your spirits and keep you humming all day.
The second reason for their music being my genre of choice ,should that choice be needed in years to come, is simply that the songs are so damn good. It’s full of ska rhythms, reedy organs and some of the most enticing hooks you’ll hear this year. Regular readers will know how highly I rate the James Clarke 5. The Che Men share his love of good pop, concern at the way the world is going and the ability to write about it without haranguing or preaching at you.
Sometimes you listen to a record you’re reviewing and you’re so swept up in the sound and the feelings it triggers that you forget to make notes. You want to absorb the moment and all it means. That’s how I felt about the Che Men.
Taster Track : Echoes of the 30s
Everyone Says Hi : Everyone Says Hi
This is the sound of classic pop brought to you by a set of veterans in the field, all dedicated to making your day a little better.
They’re a kind of Supergroup drawn from former members of Kaiser Chiefs, Kooks, The Dead 60s, Howling Bells and Tom on guitar. Tom on guitar is not overshadowed by his more travelled bandmates, His contributions help to define the Everyone Says Hi sound, adding waves that would not be out of place in the best pop of the last 25 years.
It’s a luxury experience giving you a license to wallow in a marshmallow world full of plumped pillows. Maybe you wouldn’t want to base your musical diet solely around Everyone Says Hi. They’re like a cream tea. Once in a while though, they’re exactly what you crave and need. There’s no riot to predict in this world, nor ghostface killer to avoid.
This is accessible, sweet and very good entry level pop with added appeal for more jaundiced listener. Just as the Toy Story franchise is aimed at children but relished by adults, Everyone Says Hi also have something for everyone.
Here, you’re in a world with choruses to die for. ‘I Wasn’t Dreaming’ is like the unreliable and unattainable girl of your dreams, who only has to smile and you’ll do anything for her. Kindness and positivity ooze from ‘Someone Somewhere’. ‘Tired and Failed’ is made for singing with arms aloft, swaying together with a crowd of strangers, singing your heart out with tears of happiness in your eyes.
Surrender to your need for optimistic and positive pop. You won’t be disappointed.
Taster Track : I Wasn’t Dreaming
The Chasing Pack
Strom : Harald Grosskopf
Harald Grosskopf is a survivor of German electronic music, or Krautrock as it’s more colloquially known. He’s still delivering the Krautrock message after fifty years, and he’s delivering it well.
This is an album of motorik and metromic rhythms. It’s efficient and reliable, as close to perpetual motion as you’re likely to encounter in any form of music. And you can’t deny it’s impressive - impressive in the way that the villain’s lair is impressive in a James Bond film. It’s music for industrial empires, not shy and retiring but full of scale and confidence.
Each track is the sound of machinery coming to life and getting on with business. On second thoughts, that applies to each track bar one. ‘After The future’ sounds more like the sound of those machines sleazily winding down, drunk on lubricating oil! There’s a risk in making machine music that the music feels withdrawn from the warmth and emotion of human contact. That matters to some people, but not to all. There’s always been room for Gary Numan, John Foxx and some of Kraftwerk’s oeuvres in any music collection.
Harald Grosskopf is at home in that company. His standout features are the unchanging, insistent basslines. They anchor the songs allowing creative freedom to roam over the top.. They’re occasionally so insistent though that you’re deafened to the touches around them. It works in ‘Bureau 39’, the decent pulse shaking off the feel of incidental music with the buzzing effects of a chainsaw wielding swarm of bees. The bassline in ‘Blow’ is the earworm to end all earworms. ‘Spater Strom’ has a warmer feel, pulling back from the surprisingly brittle nature of what has come before. The album, being from Germany, also fits in the sound of Cabaret sleaze in ‘After The Future’ and ‘Um Pah Pah Uh’.
Music that is this committed to an ideal will never appeal to everyone but it’s always interesting. At its best, as on ‘Blow’ it will hook you in and never let you leave.
Taster Track : Blow
Open The Door : Lazy Day
Lazy Day straddles the border between indie pop and indie rock in this collection of well made and nicely performed songs. So it’s a bit of a puzzle as to why her album left me a little cold.
Let’s start with the positives, and there are quite a few. This starts off as easy pop with substance. She navigates a path through her songs that avoids the obvious. The simplicity of ‘Strangest Relief’ is a genuine highlight, as is the feel of ‘Bright Yellow’. She ticks a lot of boxes, Indie, not corporate. Guitar based and authentic songs. Melody.
And yet, as a collection it doesn’t win me over. I can’t fathom it. I should like this more.
Perhaps it’s because by navigating away from the obvious, it’s harder to find a way in. Maybe it’s as simple as allowing false expectations to build on the basis of her name. I was expecting something chilled and warmer. Could it be that it simply didn’t stir any reactions in me? I didn’t feel anything for good or ill.
The closest I’ve come to solving this conundrum is from thinking about her influences. I felt that a song such as ‘Falling Behind’ wandered into the AOR territory of, say, Sheryl Crow and away from the indie cool of, say, Sarah Cracknell. Of her current contemporaries, Liz Lawrence may be the best comparator, but Lawrence has more of a pure pop sense about her.
Who knows exactly why you’re drawn to one musical club but not another. Lazy Day deserves our recognition and good wishes on her journey, but for now it’s a goodbye wave from me and a possible catch up further down track.
Taster Track : Strange Relief
Songs From The Echo Zoo : Night Flight
‘Songs From The Echo Zoo’ pulls in two directions which is disconcerting at first, but slowly settles down into something unexpectedly rewarding.
Artistic choices are interesting. For every choice taken, another has to be left behind. Helpfully, this album includes both the finished version of ‘Something Going On’ and the demo version of the same song. (I cheated here and listened to the demo immediately after the final version. They actually bookend the album.)
What strikes you about the final version of ‘Something Going On’ is its scuzzy, distorted guitar and its heavy use of the fuzz pedal.It sounds as if it’s fighting against complete breakdown. There’s something going on indeed. Switch to the demo version. It strips the song back to its core. Man and guitar are wrapped in union, and there’s a sensitivity that’s immediately apparent.
With the fuzz effects you can have a grubby toughness. Without it you can have vulnerability. It’s a battle between a sharp wind and the gentle warmth of the sun.
I think they’ve made the right choice because, as a listener, if you know the vulnerability is there you can search for it. Knowing it’s there helps to make this a surprisingly lovely album. They’re tough guys with a protective streak, producing an album of Americana that sounds as if it’s coming from the last chance saloon but still with the hope that someone will arrive to save the day. The character in ‘Something Going On’ is the same character in ‘Misery’ but without the fuzziness, the swooning strings and little trills feel like the sky clearing.
Slowly, enduring melodies emerge from behind the fuzz. Try the melodies hiding in the heart of ‘Canada’ for evidence of that. They turn otherwise painful songs into songs that can find a way to your heart. The vocals help too. They have a broad range that is used well. There’s a little worn huskiness in there too that is appealing.
Life is all about making good choices. Night Flight have made some very good choices indeed.
Taster Track : Canada
As ever this week's Taster Track playlists can be accessed at https://open.spotify.com/playlist/42qDXrw3nLMlCSg45kCnRy?si=4499207642034207 or via the Spotify link on the Home Page.
The link to the Youtube playlist is https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwV-OogHy7EjHZr5_M3m0Zn5LEu_F3fMm&si=OhQF-ZPaBjUn4VMT
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