CRYSTAL VISION

A night of Art, Design and Music brought to you by Crystal Vision, a host of DJ's Of For and Invasion....



I felt light of spirits after my evening at the first Crystal Vision at the ICA last Saturday. This was an exciting evening, where musical commercialism was left at the door - just where it should be at an Arts Institution for all the things Contemporary. Saturday’s gig wasn’t guest listed with half a page of music industry folk that may or may not come depending on their mood, it was a good old fashioned ‘pay on the door and reap the rewards on the inside’ kind of a gig.. I found I knew no-one on the line up which was most intriguing. It gave me the same feeling as when I’m about to start a new book about which the only thing I’ve heard, is that it’s good; very cool. The DJ’s were young guys from South London who do this alongside their various day jobs and/or studies, as were the two live musical offerings, Of For and Invasion. This was a world of talent unscathed and untouched by agents, managers and labels. These were kids who have other things going on in their worlds and are not having to make all their money from making music. I immediately felt the effect of this on the style of music played, and both live acts were very raw and almost unnerving in their appeal. Similarly the DJ’s, Joy & Pain, Pete & Jiro, Teens of Thailand, Holy triangles, Big in Ghana,and Hands of Crystal Vision (I know! There were lots of them!) were playing whatever they felt like, literally, and as a result there were no recognizable chart toppers, just a mix of classic eclectic tracks; something for everyone.


‘Of For’ were a particularly unusual sound that took some mind shifting to tune into after having heard so much of the Indie Pop sound that is flooding the music waves at the moment. This was not pretty or easy on the ears, but instead took away any varnish and slickness so that raw notes and noises hit the ear unprotected. I was being struck by sounds immediately reflecting personal interests, ideas and musical influences without any compromise to make this something a mass market would identify with, or more to the point, be able to identify at all, making it non comparable and less marketable. I certainly hadn’t heard something like this in a while and would describe it as a psychedelic twisting eclectic improvisation of sounds. Whether this is music you would want to chill out at home with, well I would debate this with the next person, but I can understand how this came out of the freedom of a bedroom, the comforting gypsy blanket placed on stage acting as a sort of link from the two realities. Julian and Nabihah http://www.myspace.com/nabz have been experimenting in that environment for a while now and have known each other since 16. Influenced by amongst other genres, Ska, which I will admit I wasn’t hearing too clearly in this performance, they have a sound not dissimilar to the track Julian is currently using as his track of choice on myspace, Sunburned by Konk on Max, see www.myspace.com/360097. Who Konk on Max is, and whether it has anything to do with another uber talented young video artist/illustrator Konx on Pax is another matter, http://www.myspace.com/konxompaxfilm. But whichever, these kids from South East London are surely on the pulse creatively.
Invasion http://www.myspace.com/weareinvasion played a little later on when things had properly warmed up in the ICA house, and they definitely went for it. Chan (the lead singer) is still relatively new to the band joining the two original members, Marek
and Zel on their psychedelic rock mission. They are all individually influenced by very different people and things ‘Sleep, Slayer, Hawkwind, Lightning Bolt, Weed’ ?!
‘Motley Crue, Pantera, Metallica, The Sword, Enid Blyton’ ?! And Chan referenced
‘Stevie Wonder, Pattie La Belle, Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin as her musical influences rather surprisingly as she was no melodic soul sister in this gig; more rock warrior princess. However, influences are just influences and she certainly had the big voice and attitude.
I really enjoyed the way these guys put everything into it, the drummer getting down to the bare essentials to rock out as best she could, and Chan certainly seemed to know exactly what she was doing and what she was talking about. I find it difficult to accurately describe this trio but something tinged with, as someone mentioned on the night, something of Black Sabbath, or as there myspace amusingly writes, ‘like a Manga character fronting a stoned Metallica playing QOTSA songs too fast (and too short)’, or a ‘heavy metal Yeah Yeah Yeah's.' Interesting.. Anyway, even friends I had there that wouldn’t normally listen to this kind of thing, including me to be honest, got really into it and you couldn't deny they had rock magnetism.

One of the major reasons why both Of For and Invasion worked well live, even as less mainstream sounding music, was because they enhanced and were enhanced by the overall artistry of the night. As you can see from the following picture, the audience happily purveyed the whole scene around them as well as what was going on on the stage area. Even if the music wasn’t your bag, you could treat it as a authentic original soundtrack to the rest of your experience. The Crystal crew were giving surround sound entertainment, and it worked – happy public looking just about everywhere!

Hmmm, the red arrows; I’m sure this was just momentary blinking..
So what was going on around everybody? There were beautiful and overtly sexual and surreal video animations from one designer called Kafka to look at,
If I’ve been clever, you might just be able to look at this on this link to YouTube where it is also being shown. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE3iE7xo3ds&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fprofile%2Emyspace%2Ecom%2Findex%2Ecfm%3Ffuseaction%3Duser%2Eviewprofile%26friendid%3D3726484 Also, check out her myspace http://www.myspace.com/kitchenperson
for more information on her artistic endeavours which you can be sure will provide something enlightening and thought provoking. There were also other video installations to look at above the theatre doors; , where various still images were being projected too. Various sculptures of different shapes and sizes were dotted around the space.
In the dining area there was a beautifully hand crafted tee-pee, which people used for overdue catch ups.
This home-made windmill was rather beautiful too. There were hand printed sketches and prints of various other American-Indian inspired designs including eagles and symbols printed onto arm cropped denim jackets and shirts A giant bird flew up near the dj area, and whether this was James' creation I'm not sure but judging from his myspace images, see http://www.myspace.com/jimmytanner he was responsible for many of the beautiful eagle designs which you could buy, along with other drawings and booklets from the Crystal Vision table where serious bargains were to be had. Sold by designers and DJ's alike, Patrick Will
So this was a wicked little shop! A friend purchased one of the poster prints there for a pound (!) and is happily framing it properly so that it’s artistry can carry on through the years, yeehaa to that. Yeehaa being the most apt word of happy exclamation for the night, seeing as imaginations were definitely taken off to cowboy country, where you find all the real free flying eagles, coloured feathers and fresh, but danger-fuelled air . I was being taken away to a place on earth where nature’s vastness takes over the soul and music is an extension of the rhythms in the earth, wind and fire. Phew, I did get involved obviously. Anyway, that was that one side of the artistic game that night.

Up on the bar level, it was a different vibe but no less an impression to the imagination. There were papier mache abstract models and cartoon characters, hooded mannequins, and big plastic dolls with creepy heads attached.
(A theme echoed in various pieces of artwork including the flyer for the night, and in another projection, by Daniel, one of the main organizers of the evening.
All these objects made you feel as if you were in an Alice in Wonderland sketch of some kind, haggling with the shrink me, grow me potions. The decks and dj’s seemed almost miniature within a giant toy box,
with toys of a somewhat sinister nature. Mannequins and plastic dolls have always disturbed me out a little, so to see giant dolls with heads not dissimilar to giant surreal, boxing figures or worse, Jason masks (!) was not all funny ha ha. I’m not saying it was all disturbing, Dan’s sister Alice (here photographed with her friend, Alice - yes two Alice's) helped create the giant banana costume which lent itself to much play and joviality, as did other soft playful triangles... and friendly lego like toys, But I couldn’t help noticing the slightly dark undertones involved in this giant playroom of cartoon characters.

Much of the artistic vision behind this part of the evening came from Daniel David Freeman, the self professed ‘accidental’ leader, and ‘correspondent’ for the night. He is certainly one talented fellow and he reminded me of Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting - a fresh faced young lad, able to create not mathematic equations but wonderful, slightly dark, obscure works of art hinting at something troubled beneath the façade! (Or maybe he just has just has a slightly overactive imagination like myself.) Anyway, if you go to his myspace page you can link onto a photoflicker of more of his work. His cartoons are very interesting; often raw, funny, menacing and direct. I was most impressed that a 21 year old artist (just out of Art School like many of the people involved in Crystal Vision) managed to organize and keep the whole night running smoothly, coordinating a group who in their creativity I’m guessing might not be the most disciplined of people?! He has only experienced promoting once before for a Crystal Vision night in New Cross. But that was also a major success attracting over 300 people with little hand made booklets that they gave out for free as invites. I asked if he planned to do more nights, to which he responded 'yes', although due to the sheer amount of organizing for both a music and art event, he may try separating the events in future with more weight put to either exhibiting OR to the music.. But I think NO! I liked both together, that was the crystal magic, keep up the good work.. I might suggest that in nights to come they put slightly more emphasis on a certain overall theme within which you can still be eclectic in choice of music and artistic style.. There were a lot of exciting and creative elements coming from individuals and between groups of creative friends, (I wouldn't expect less, this is the ICA after all) but I would next time like to see a broad but interlinking idea that groups the overall aesthetic in some subtle yet clever way…

However, it was certainly fresh, new and I’m glad that Roy , front of house and assistant to the music department at the ICA approached Daniel and his friends to put the night on. Roy saw the opportunity arise during one of the music department booking meetings where they were choosing between a better known, safer choice and a more avant-garde, experimental and therefore riskier choice of bands for the date in question. Roy was quick to take up the flag for a new and different night because of an overall belief that the ICA, that he’s ‘always rated’, needs to ‘go back to people that aren’t established instead of going for the big names, and start from the ground up’. Roy recognized his friends to be ‘really talented South East London artists…amazing’ , and saw booking Crystal Vision as an opportunity to ‘start changing things.’ Roy understands that ‘change means risk’, but commented that ‘..even if it hadn’t been that busy tonight, I would have been pleased that I had attempted it and got new people in, opening the door for other new artists.’

Roy believes that the Shoreditch scene is dying , and the phrase ‘Ding Dong the ditch is Dead’ is amusingly written on the myspace page of his Dj’ing group Teens of Thailand. 'Yeah who cares if you were born in the Eighties?’ I joked, but this is a serious issue in that that scene, once notorious and essential for being ground breaking and independently creative is suddenly a sell out environment where the likes of small acts like Calvin Harris are being signed to Sony to become just one more of a list of artists playing a very over played electro – indie – pop sound. Roy explains that, with this being the case, there has to be a new underground, less pretentious creative thing going on and the kids from Crystal Vision provide that. ‘They are just a bunch of kids that smoke and do stuff, not part of some scene, and more interesting than anyone else I know in South London’ Roy believes the ICA has the potential to put new artists on the map, but it is a matter of finding these people, and it’s not always that easy. If Roy wasn’t friends with these guys, he wouldn’t have been going around to their houses and seeing them produce this music and their art. Smaller varieties of talent such as this, who do not have an interest in spending all their time making demos, doing press releases and giving interviews are harder to locate but often are the most inventive. But while it might not be the easiest thing to seek the new trends and new talents going on out there, it is the ICA’s duty to try. 'Seeking out the underground talent and bringing it forward, (is more important than) 'sustaining the likes of Tracy Emin.’ Of course, the ICA has to ‘balance art and commerce’, but it is ‘almost selling out’ and the only way it can repair itself is, ‘to get back to (it’s) own notoriety’ by getting new acts in. I agree that yes this is riskier, but undoubtedly true. So any budding young creatives out there with fabulous talents and vision, send in your ideas for musical artistic evenings to the music department and we will listen to your suggestions! http://www.myspace.com/icamusic

The prizes for best picture and best dressed on Saturday night went to myspace's Johnathan Rockwell,

and Joseph and Florenzia,

Farewell salutes with these looks to remember....
Arrivederci!

Loney Dear with Maia Hirasawa and Shout Out Louds

'I feel the need, the need to hear a Swede...'

Do you? Well you're too late. The Swedish night at the ICA has now been and gone, and a friendly jovial affair it was too. However, as is usually the case with my blog, you will find a positive to counteract any disappointment through absence and I am going to tell you all about it, and even let you know about the guys who frequently put on Swedish themed events, the guys of Tack!Tack!Tack! This way you really won't feel you missed so much, and for future gigs, you might actually get to the church on time. Amen.

So I started off the evening with my faithful co-pilot Flossie of the music department, discussing heavily the music business, important trends and culture et al. OK, well actually I remember it being slightly less honorable than that, more a festival chat, which ones? where to go? I wish at this stage this blog had a forum capacity, and I could put up some kind of 'Festival Fight- Who is our champion?' I would ask all readers to send in their top three festivals and then a sort of online debate could take place between the 10 most favored, slowly going through the quarter's/semi's until the final would be reached; a festival winner would be crowned and a ticket given away... But alas, we are not quite there yet, but please do feel free to send in your festival opinions to my email address torie@speyerdesign.com. I may well write some form of festival article one of these days, and generally new opinions are always good to hear.

So where was I? Flossie and I, ICA bar, Thursday 24th May, 2007, soaking up the start of the Swedish evening. I spent a large amount of time trying to catch Flossie on camera, and although she's a very adept swimmer this one, I did get this picture, which is yes, funny, but rather cool too. I'm hoping she agrees....

Slowly the bar filled up, with more and more people... Hiding by the stairs we had the lovely Maj and Stewart,

I have to throw in this pic of Kris and Howard just for their description of Loney Dear as 'A low-fi Beegees' I mean that surely got lifted my level of inquisitiveness!

I spoke to these two brothers, Sean and Brian,
who found it very funny.
Sean had come with his wife Madeleine, introduced originally to him by Brian. Something told me Brian was happy to have the favor returned to him on Thursday, and was happily meeting other Swedish beauties through Madeleine, including Mia.

Something in her expression tells me she was exasperated by the chat up lines I can bet she was bombarded with that evening! Any Swedish girls going to a night where it's all about Sweden, you better watch out.. Even our first support act couldn't quite escape her Swedishness (I know, not a word, but you get where I'm going) being a focal point of introduction.. 'See her once, and her cutesy charm will be sure to win you over - Maia is strikingly beautiful in voice and vision' Now tell me this, is that really all about the music?!

Well now, so as not to appear prudish or jealous, I will affirm that Maia was in fact very beautiful, and her music wasn't half bad either.. She was very confident, smiley, charming indeed,
and I enjoyed her various human percussive noises; little exclamations of 'huh' 'hey' which got me involved anyway. While the technical guys were frosting on an Icelandic tip suggesting maybe there wasn't enough of something from Maia to top her number one competition Bjork, I felt this was a little unfair. I mea, if no band had attempted another indie sound in Britain after bands like the Stone Roses and The Smiths were rocking around, then we would not have had a multitude of variants and original there-afters including Radiohead, Artic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand.. I know, I know, you cannot even categorize such varied bands in this extremely loosely over- used genre/descriptive term anyway, but you get what I mean. Just because a country came up with somethings that works, does not mean good things can't follow it. And ultimately, Maia may be no Bjork, but I don't think we should undermine her originality by suggesting that she wants to be?! And the songs she sang, while maybe not ground breaking or mind blowing, were very intimate; you could identify with her and the lyrics, and there will always be a place in music for people trying new sounds and putting themselves in their music. Maia sang about simple things like friends she admires back home, people she has met, lovers she has loved and lost etc.

For more details on Maia and her other band Hello Saferide check out the following links..
http://www.myspace.com/maiahirasawa
http://www.razziarecords.se/ (label)
http://www.maiahirasawa.com/
http://www.hellosaferide.com



Next up were the Shout Out Louds, clearly the band that many folk had come down for, and they didn't fail to impress. Normally, I get a chance to chat with the bands backstage but this evening we had Maia stuck in some horrible travel nightmares and arriving just in time for the gig, (which I might add made her set the more impressive..I know how wiggy I get after too many hours of changing trains, planes and automobiles)and the Shout Out Louds were being swept around by an official photographer taking them outside the ICA for photo - shoots around the City. (This may have been to do with the fact that they are now signed to the major label Merge Records and it was the bands only exclusive London headline show in two years.) Anyway, all this action resulted in no backstage interviews for Torie, but I do rather like this picture I caught literally 'behind' the scenes of the band at the back entrance of the ICA. Rather special I thought...


And I was able to catch a few good ones of the band on stage too.
Adam with Ted
Bebban on keyboards and backing vocals, and with her harmonica,
I enjoyed the music, the crowd went crazy for Tonight I Have to Leave It from their new album and their myspace page. One of my favourites was a little number called 'Are You Coming Out Tonight'. I appreicated their musicality, their adeptness at easily rolling from one song into another and they were all very much on the same page as a band. I personally would have liked a few more elements to set them apart from the rest - their dress, attitude and lyrics were not originality personified and I have to say I found myself forgetting the name 'Shout Out Louds' until it had been re-iterated to me a few times, because somehow it just sounded rather like something else, the 'yeah yeah yeah's or something with that 3 syllable roll 'pa -pa- pa' anyway. But, overall an enthusiastic and energetic set that the fans enjoyed immensely. Check out all news and info on www.myspace.com/shoutoutlouds

I felt sad that the whole crowd didn't stay for the final act but Loney Dear a.k.a
Emil Svanängen, because this 'multi-instrumentalist from Stockholm' did manage 'to create a noise that (was) really rather lovely'. 'Exhilarating and melancholy, joyous and confessional all at once', he was! Loney was extremely appreciative to those who stayed and the lesser group amounted to a feeling of intimacy quite apt for what is a very personal and attention-commanding music. Emil was able to command the attention of everyone in the hall for strong silences and for areas where the instrumentals would slowly build before breaking for a lyrical and exclamatory sound from the singer himself. Loney is a captivating artist and you can tell he's the man pulling the strings, commanding his fellow band members on his musical journey being shared with the audience. From my point of view listening to Loney in a public place, trying to remember sounds and visuals while simultaneously taking photographs made it hard for me to go a place that I think, given half a chance in the privacy of my bedroom, or just in quiet, could be some pretty soul and heart ripping places...

Throughout the evening in the bar area the audience were treated to the less weighted, entertaining sounds of the Swedish and Estonian DJ's Daniel of Off the Wall www.myspace.com/thisisoffthewall
and Andres Lokko. They focused on playing mainly Swedish music, which Andres pointed out to me was not a hard job with so much excellent acid house and pop music coming from that country at the moment. When asked who he felt was most admirable at the moment he suggested 'The Concretes' who I've since checked out and will admit have a groovy little indie pop sound - a sort of upbeat sound similar to Au Revoir Simone who visited us not long ago from Brooklyn. I think Andres may have been bias since I then heard from a little bird that the 'pretty girl' Andres mentioned from the band is actually his girlfriend.. but forgive my gossip spreading, or don't, naughty me! Ultimately, Daniel and Andres played some lovely tunes and pointed out to me Jason, the other person I promised I would tell you about at the beginning of my blog - the part promoter of the evening and man behind the Tack!Tack!Tack! events that have teamed up with the Swedish Institute. I could talk about T!T!T! in more detail in my own words, but when there is an article so apt to do the job, http://www.londonist.com/archives/2007/05/clubwatch_tack.php, I think you should just grab a look yourselves. This is an interview with Jason and Nick who run the nights, choosing different and wonderful Swedish line up's like that of thursday night. Thank you Jason and Nick.For future gigs look here, http://www.myspace.com/tacktacktack

And that as they say, is all folks. For another take on the evening, check this out
http://swedesplease.blogspot.com/2007/05/tack-tack-tack.html Or just wait for me, I'll be back shortly with all that was the wonder of The Crystal Vision evening on Saturday. Lots of mad music and art and all the rest. x

PAT AND TREVOR

Au Revoir Simone, Plaster of Paris and The Train Chronicles



Well well well, so many potential ways to introduce these boys and their artistic evenings...

'Whatever the weather, It's time for Pat and Trevor'
'Music and art forever with a night of Pat and Trevor'
'It doesn't get better...'
'Pat, Trevor and Me. What a happy memory.'

ooh that's a cheesy one.
O.k so all cheese but I just had to illustrate how easy it is to introduce these P & T nights with kind words.. And who doesn't enjoy a good headline-rhyme-around anyway..

So what happened at this month's P & T entertainment extraordinare? I will admit now a week has passed since this French flavored event so this blog is one running on memory and impressions... My lack of words is in no way a reflection of a poor evening, more a reflection of a pretty horrendous week for your dutiful resident blogger. No more detail needed, but I will say the road to a career in photojournalism; life; death and men are all things that do not come without hiccups, any one of which can be enough to feed a serious stress disorder..But enough of my moaning. Back to Pat and Trevor and please do as I am and imagine the computer screen merging into a big pyschadelic wave breezing left and right; move your head from side to side, shut your eyes...and Ping! Now you have opened them again I am walking you around last Saturday's night at the ICA. Hmm What can we see? A rather wonderful mixture of music, art, musicians, artists, interesting people, and all sorts else..

I see the usual art installation happiness providing a feast for my photographic eyes.. Piano keyboards leaning against walls, mountain views seen projected onto blue glazed walls and video installations provided by Funici (sorry terrible spelling I'm sure) appearing to spring out and reflect passers by... Funici used to study at Camberwell Art College where he learnt how to put together such effective video projections. He can now be found studying for a Masters in Product Design at the Royal College of Art. Oh yes, this is creativity you are seeing, at a level not to be sniffed at.
What else is there to catch your eye? Colored light boxes reflect over pieces of cerment with lenses and tiny plasticine figures placed on top;
paintings lie sideways next to empty flower pots; Hallways and it's punters are flooded with blue light;
plasticine moulds
looking like something completely depending on the angle
..It'ss all going on. There is much play with perspective and one can't escape the fascination with how things look against how things actually are. This is unsurprising of course seeing as the boys have just finished their animation and interactive design degrees from LCC. Their lecturers will, if anything at all like my Theatre practitioners, have harped on, in a good way, about all the deconstructive theories and the importance of removing or at least questioning metaphysical or ethnocentric assumptions in what we read, hear and see.

This was also illustrated in a little piece de la resistance from Jimmy.. One of his final year animations. It projected out to the audience as they filed into the theatre for Au Revoir Simone. This was a brilliantly executed piece of film edited out of hand sketched material. Jimmy's 3 minute short was far removed from the usual 3D 'T4 esque' schmoozy programmes that saturate the TV/film scene at the moment; what a pleasant change. I didn't catch this film on my camera but what I did catch was a picture of David Lynch projected up on the walls from earlier in the evening. Hmmm, surreal... Something to do with Au Revoir Simone's future visit to play at Mr Lynch's party in Paris I wonder??

Anyway, I wonder, I wander. Ultimately, excellent art installations as usual and the combination of sounds and visuals did not disappoint..
So what was the line up?
First up was Plaster of Paris, with singer Molly and her faithful accompanist Lewis.
This was a simple guitar and vocals double act, 'opera meets folk with a kazoomaphone'. I was impressed with Molly's energy and her ability to engage the audience with her punchy lyrics and animated performance style. This was live performance at its most raw with the audience positioned at the same level and mere inches away from Molly. You really need some chutzpa to be able to do that kind of act, but there were no worries on that front, this girl definately has that. I was loving the red frock and shoes, and five stars for the unusual and brilliant instrument.
The camera couldn't fail to capture her animated expressions and energetic flair.
Check out the myspace, http://www.myspace.com/weareplasterofparis

Next up was Martin, the sole member of The Train Chronicles providing good old fashioned strumming; interesting chords and lyrics with some meaning, see http://www.myspace.com/thetrainchronicles. Just as 'chronicles' the word suggests some kind of travel, journey or time passed, Martin has a knack of drifting you off into another time and place. His tightly buttoned lumber jack shirt and lace up shoes were also helping me to abandon for one short blissful moment the sight of tight jeans and pointy sneakers smothering my vision at the moment.. Perhaps this camera man was revelling in the moment too,.. There were tinges of old school vaudeville and war time entertainment throughout the evening.. but Au Revoir Simone added an interesting contradiction to that with their electronic keyboard based set.

The Brooklyn trio played from a boxing ring style stage in the middle of the theatre's floor, a modern twist on the usual 'fourth wall' idea we are accustomed to. Now this didn't come without its short fallings, and I wouldn't suggest all ICA gigs are suddenly put on this way. You couldn't see all of the girls at the same time, they had a tricky time communicating with each other
and perhaps there wasn't enough reason behind the staging other than to change things around. However, everyone needs to try out new performance arrangements once in a while, if only to remind us why sometimes a typical staging for bands just makes more sense... I say bravo for inventiveness and the crowds enjoyed the suspense as they shuffled into the space. As for Au Revoir Simone, they all looked very smiley,
and seemed to enjoy themselves as they played out a repertoire of interesting tracks illustrating their need to verse 'comfort, assurance and salvation'. I'm not sure I had to see it live, its really 'Sunday evening with a glass of wine and some dark chocolate music' for me, but thats just me. I could see everyone was enjoying themselves and I managed to sneak a picture of the girls in the empty cafe area before they left. Heather was also kind enough to talk to me about the tour, recent tours with fellow Brooklyn boys We Are Scientists and the trio's explorations of the US, and the UK for the first time. I discovered that this is their first headlining tour in the UK, and from here they fleetingly step down in Paris for some glamorous parties before heading back to start a second US tour with Foxtrot. Busy ladies! Only in September do these girls get to abandon the stage for a little studio time, but as Heather explained to me, there is some time for creative growth while on tour..All three girls constantly collect little 'seeds' of songs as they travel around the world..These seeds will then get fed, watered and developed in the studio at a later date. Good work and good luck to the Brooklyn beauties.. For all info check out www.myspace.com/aurevoirsimone

And as if that wasn't enough, when you were not listening to one of the wonderful live acts on offer, you were played a wonderfully eclectic set of records from Alex
and Seb of Tapedeck. I don't know too much about them but check out their myspace http://www.myspace.com/tapedeckdjs for all the details. I do know this is a wicked picture though. They have a lot of gigs going on so get down and listen to one of them!

That's it. I think I covered most corners, but you never know with this lot; I might have missed a secret passage, or a weird and wonderful hidden something or other.. It's the element of surprise at the Pat and Trevor nights that should really get you down there.

For more pics visit www.speyerdesign. Look, I made myself a groovy logo.. See what I've done there? Looks like a camera, S & D all in it?! oh me. Well it needs some tweaking; any friendly graphics people you know where I am.. But as soon as that's done it'll be printed all over London Town's billboards, on nasty white polo shirts and mugs... ha ha ha

Au revoir x

Roots and Shoots

SANDI DILLON, CW STONEKING, NED COLLETTE
and THE SARGASSO TRIO


Yet another fantastic line up for all those folk lovers out there. If you enjoy some blues with your beer or a bit of country with your cookin', or spotting singers from The Young Cannibals even, then you surely missed out if you weren't at the Roots and Shoots gig last Friday. (Apologies for the late reaction to this fine event by the way- the bank holiday seems to have blown a wondrous wind through my diary and it's a week gone by already! I can't believe it.) Anyway, on Friday we were spoilt for choice with the lovely Sandy Dillon up first.
Now I could tell you all about this lady's background, it's fascinating stuff, and of course, deeply relevant to her music;she sings from the heart and from experience after all. However, this is not a biography of different artists I meet, it's a blog with an opinion, and frankly you really just need to hear her stuff to understand. Everything you need to know about Sandy is in her music. She doesn't hold anything back, hitting the audience with such an intensely raw personal sound that most of us wouldn't dream of conveying publicly for fear of feeling naked amongst strangers.
Sandi herself has quoted in the past that her music is 'raw, not cooked like several of the artists out there'. This decision not to sugar coat her sound has taken her outside of mainstream music, but enabled her to be true to her music, herself and her life.
Sandi sang while accompanying herself on one of her many 'cheap organs'. I'd have to agree there are hints of Joplin in her voice, (Sandy interestingly played Joplin in a musical theatre production in NY in her youth). But take the absolute wail of Joplins 'Cry Baby' and stick in some content and experience to really make you wail and you're approaching a Sandi sound.

For more information about Sandi, her latest album, Pulling Strings (featuring production and performances from multi-instrumentalist David Coulter) and all her future gigs, choose from any of these very informative websites...
http://www.indian.co.uk/sandydillon/
http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~dannym/sandy.html
http://www.onelittleindian-us.com/sandydillon.html
http://www.sandydillon.com/
http://www.myspace.com/sandydillonsnightgallery

Her myspace page is Sandi at her most strange and twisted, she even describes herself as 'disintegrating into the night', but somehow I feel she'll be around a good while longer...

But no fear for the people who like things on the lighter side of life. We then had CW Stoneking, 'the legendary king of hokum blues' take to the stage, and the crowd settled further into their evening. Now it was time for folk to close their eyes, sit back in their chairs like they was sittin' in an old rocking chair on a porch somewhere in Louisiana, where mama's inside cookin' up eggs and your brother's workin' the corn. Ok, well you get where I'm going with this...

CW is Australian, not that you would no that AT ALL, and of course the first thing I asked is 'does he really talk like that??'. On stage it's all Southern American drawl, 20's style Southern Blues and I was imagining some piece of hay running through his teeth and some tobacco in his mouth. It doesn't get much more hillbilly than this. He captured the crowds with his quality musicianship and generally let everyone dream away into a time lost - or maybe not so lost as it seems all the artists on Friday agree that their is a universality to this music of yester year, making sounds that still resonate clearly today. CW obviously sees little need to develop and adapt the ol' country and blues music too much in the 21st century. A true advocate for the Southern sights and sounds of the 20's he is, but no-one is denying his own personal touch in his varied lyrics and ability to collate new songs from a diverse collection of stylistic genres. I had to take off my hat (as he did)
to this gentlemen and full marks for the steel bodied dobro,
the best looking guitar I've seen for a while - running neck and neck with Money Mark's mini electric actually. His banjo wasn't half bad to watch handled so eloquently either.
C.W. Stoneking has just released a brand new album 'King Hokum'. Recorded and produced in 2005 with J. Walker (Machine Translations). For more information on that and all that other CW news.. You can see all live reports from his rather cool, 20's style myspace page. It all looks like an old silent film bobbing about the page; very clever. http://www.myspace.com/cwstoneking


Up next, Ned Collette,
another young Australian and also of an old-school folk and blues throwback style. And the third artist of the three, (yes that's all of them) to have a photograph somewhere online which is all browned out to look like a Victorian picture. However, Ned, while obviously investing much interest in the sounds of the past in such tracks as 'Heavens the key', also envelops modern technology in his use of electronic sounds that create a more folk-pop like style.
On Friday he used various pre-recorded rhythms and melodies that he aptly started and stopped with his feet so that, with the additional sounds of his vocals and guitar, one could look away from him and imagine a small band behind. The acoustic one-man-band ship cruised off with CW. Ned confesses to influences as varied as John Lennon, Leonard Cohen, and Serge Gainsbourg. I would agree their are hints of such artists as these in his music and I could definately hear little electronic sounding didgeredoo sounds in the strings where I think Australia's musical and natural heritage is rubbing off on him.. (Listen to Boulder on his myspace). I could also hear, he might not like me saying this so much, a little of a young folky Rolf Harris in his voice - it's true!
Ned's a good guy, big smiles here..
I'm sure he won't mind my comparison. Obviously, he whoops Rolf's music in this day and age, (he's playing at Cargo tomorrow and the rest of that line up is great). Aah, but can he draw bug bunny at 100 miles an hour...?

Procrastinating! For all information on Ned Collette and all releases with his label Dot Dash, check out, http://www.myspace.com/nedcollette
http://www.nedcollette.com/

Here's Ned outside with Pete Murdoch of The Sargasso Trio feeding that naughty cigaretto habit outside where it's still just about legal... But for all its hindrances, I'm happy, as I might not get wonderful pictures like these otherwise!


Finally the Sargasso Trio. Well, they were excellent. These guys met in 2002 playing samba and there is definately a wicked calypso style beat that runs through a few of their tracks. People could not resist but to stand for much of their gig,it is music you want to move to. After a few technical trick ups due to so many different instruments being used differently each song (saucepans and shoes included),
the audience enjoyed a lovely set. The connection to Roots and Shoots is their 'synth-folk' style, a love of country laments, 'local myths rewritten' and their 'odes to the road and ballads of the sea. Just reading that you can see that their music is largely rooted in folk music. However, it is these roots combined with their passion for Latin rhythms, and their individual musical interests that gives the Sargasso Trio an interesting edge. Pete has an interest in 'dark', 'unusual' and 'independent' sounds, Emily Siddall's puts a lot of her own individual personality and experience into the vocals, (Such a photogenic lady too is she not?) and Ben Winn is interested in 'synthesised soul' and 'jaded fragile or uncompromising and unusual' sounds.
These interests take the music out of any one musical bracket and happily into its own beat.

For more information on the band please check out..
http://www.myspace.com/sargassotrio


If you are reading this and thinking 'Help! I missed it, and this all sounds right up my alley?' Are you desperately worried that you didn't make it to such a night as this? Well fear not, Roots and Shoots is an organisation created created by Nick Luscombe to 'showcase the best new artists emerging from folk roots. 'This was not a one off (well this particular beauty of a line up was, but the idea behind it was not.) There will be other chances to check out the 'blending of a traditional folk heritage with a new breed of musical exploration'; to take in 'electronica, Americana, country, jazz, blues and psychedelic influences' and to 'explore what folk music means in the 21st century'. So you see, phew, you can breathe with the knowledge that Roots and Shoots may well be back at the ICA in the not so distant future with another excellent line up.. Check out their myspace http://www.myspace.com/rootsandshootsdjs where all listings about future gigs are announced...

For all pictures of this night please go to www.speyerdesign.com where you shall find an array of fantastic folky imagery from what was a superb night in the folk saddle. Yeehaa x

Money Mark with support Lucky Jim and Natty

Money Money Money, must be funny,
In a Beastie Boy's World
Well this night was very fly indeed. And the sounds of a slightly Seventies style, west coast, sunny, funky, melodic set from Money Mark and his merry crew was music to my ears... Here is a man who knows music having worked for several years with the Beastie Boys as their fourth honorary member. On finishing this tour of his own stuff he heads straight off to be with the boys (men?) this summer - nice life! I felt rather privileged to be in such good hands artistically and this boy does know how to hold his own, his band and the crowds. He just has this uber cool air about him... He didn't mind putting in extra songs from older albums just for his London fans or giving groovy encores with his faithful drummer (who incidentally rocked it in his little solo improvised jamming moment). Throughout the set he seemed completely at ease and at home on his wonderfully small electric guitar and funky keyboard (one of many apparently) I'd like to see that eclectic collection...

It seems Money Mark has a thing for collecting unusual instruments and quirky things in general. There was a panther on tour with them that sat happily on the side throughout, but this was no ordinary mascot. Just as the night was coming to a close the panther was taken to the mike where he proceeded to talk to the audience.. Yes, the mascot panther spoke. Well, no ok he didn't. Stuffed toys cannot actually verbalise anything from the cotton that is their brains but it did look like he was. Mr Money had done a bit of prerecording on an old seventies dap tape recorder that was then put through the amp at the moment of truth. Loving the quirkiness; yeehaa. That, alongside the drummer in his pale blue and yellow attire;

the bass in a kilt bought during the Glasgow leg of the tour (sorry I didn't get the kilt - you'll have to imagine); leopards; leaopard sweaters and the like; it was quite the vision. About the only 'normal' looking boy was the other bass player who provided, much to my appreciation, that 'west coast, chiselled healthy California boy bit..' just perfect.


All in all a wicked night, and I would advise checking out money marks website www.moneymark.com where you can purchase the latest albums and get any other details you might need. He is also on myspace at http://www.myspace.com/moneymarkofficialfansite..


Keyboard reflecting shades, I'm sorry, that's cool.

Then there was the support that didn't let anyone down.. Gordan Grahame aka. Lucky Jim gave me this mini interview with his beautiful wife before going on..



Have you ever been to the ICA before?

Jim: No this is my first time. I live in London and I was amazed that it was here and so close to the queen and all that.. (laughs)

So you live here but where are you from?

Jim: I’m from Edinburgh originally.. I’ve been in London for about 3/4 years

Have you always been into music?

Jim: Yeah, I‘ve always been into music since I was a kid, I’ve moved around with it to different places.. Europe, The States, and Brighton was the last place, I loved it down there

Have you always been a solo artist?

Jim: I’ve been in bands but mainly just me, when I’ve had no other income I’ve played in bars, on the streets, everywhere

Ok so you’ve done your time doing every different kind…

Jim: Oh I paid my dues oh lord yes, give me a break! (laughs)

So you’re on an up? It’s good to play here definately

Jim: Oh yes it’s great, I’m on an up, excited to play here

What would you say is your style of music?

Jim: I don’t think I have a style, Singer songwriter stuff.. obvious influences are Dylan, Cohen,..

So a folky style then?

Jim: Yes folky, but really on a good night I get on a soul tip, that’s what you’ll come away with . Not so much a style but a feeling thing. If I’m not there then it will be a bit more rumble jumble..

So you put a lot of you into it,

Jim: Oh yes that’s the way you gotta do it…


And he did! He played some really beautiful numbers..He is releasing a single that is out now. Check out his myspace, http://www.myspace.com/luckyjimmusic for further information on gigs and releases…

And let's not forget Natty.
Natty with on his own reggae tip, singing from with his heart and mind, captivated the audience with his rhythmic flowing sound. He squeezes a multitude of well thought out lyrics into a phrase, and you can hear them all too. I know I sound like an aging older lady, but that's a rare commodity and I appreciated it much.
Here he is with his bongo playing percussionist..A perfectly chilled out pair.

Good Books and Support Video Nasties / Slowclub

Just like a good book, that’s right, you guessed it, I didn’t want it to end. Aah.

I knew I was going to enjoy Monday night when it started off with Slowclub, two of my favourite newcomers into the Music metropolis, proving their worth with a sound that, as I heard a young bystander announce, is ‘excellent..hard to describe’. Personally, I feel that receiving that comment deserves a medal in itself. To have originality in a saturated market does not come easy, but these two, with their innocence and charm seem to have cracked it. I advise if you have not heard their happy, synergetic sounds that you attend one of their forthcoming gigs, all listed on their myspace page, www.myspace.com/slowclub They are back at the ICA on the 12th May supporting Au Revoir Simone – don’t miss out! Here is the lovely, Rebecca..
She always comes out in photographs with this beautiful Seventies soft hue… Obviously she doesn’t actually carry with her a hippy pretty halo of light, (the guys in the lighting box might have something to do with this), but she wears it very well indeed. And let's not be forgetting Charles with his sparkly cheeks...


Video Nasties… Due to no nice wide angle lens at the moment (any bankers wanting a new investment, you know where to call yes?!) I can’t show you just how neat these boys looked on stage as four frontmen stood in a line behind their evenly separated microphones.. Their more formal choice of arrangement was interesting as you felt close to all the band members, there was less room for ‘frontman’s ego’ and the audience were able to really focus in on each individual while hearing a united sound. The fact that this sound then conflicted on some level with their tidy formation accentuated the less neat, more punky aspect of their music. Ooh la la. Describing themselves as ‘alternative/grunge/pop’ I would agree, and there is definitely some of the 80’s punk and pop music that they mention on their myspace going on here... I occasionally heard some of The Cure’s frontman in Jimmie’s voice and their sound in general, but that’s maybe just me, but as a whole it was all energetic, well practiced stuff. Here are some of the best pics of these boys.
Jimmy Nastie - Guitar, Vocals


Joe Nastie - Bass, Vocals



Nastie Jorgenson - Keys

Nastie Hasroldo - Guitar, Vocals



Maccy on drums, I promise to try harder next time...
Check out their myspace on www.myspace.com/videonasties for more information of upcoming gigs and releases..


Finally, I move onto the final act, Good Books, who it must be said get my winning prize for the evening. I confess I knew nothing of these boys before Monday night but as with a good film, or book (sorry) it can actually be far more favourable to NOT know anything prior to first screening as any conclusions made you know are your own, and judgements come without bias one way or another… So, to my fresh ears, fascinating, fastidious rhythms and melodies ensued which is what this band are all about. Some tunes more pop like than others, some almost Keane like in their attention to melody, and overall a very together sound with a certain individual kick of their own. I could go on describing what they sound like but you really have to go and see these boys for yourselves..

But, fear not, stuff on Good Books does not end there as I have up my sleeve, the following mini interview with the lovely keyboardist JP, who sacrificed seeing some of the support to talk to me, so big up the JP!! Here seen looking at me from the stage about an hour later...
And the rest of the band.. On lead vocals Max...


You'd hardly believe this innocent fresh faced was the same guy really singing it out there on the stage..
doing this...

Then there's the talented Chris..

Eek I've just noticed I have no good ones of Good Books drummer either! Note to self, more conscientious pictures of drummers in future.. Always tucked back in the shadows, it's no good - not when they are basically keeping the whole number in time. I do apologise Leo!!

INTERVIEW WITH JP of GOOD BOOKS 30th April, 2007

How many are of you in total?

JP: 15, no there’s 4 of us

Have you been to the ICA before?

JP: No, I do know of it, I’ve heard about some of the exhibitions and the grime nights actually, I always knew it was a great place..

Excellent.. So when did you guys get together?

JP: We’ve been together for about 10 years now, we all knew each other from school, I knew Leo since he was about 10, Chris since 14, Max, 13, we were little muso’s, little public school boys..I joined the band that Olly was in at 14, and then it sort of grew and we got signed basically..

And by that you mean your first and current label Columbia Records; that must have been exciting..

JP: They gave us the most amount of money (laughs) No seriously, they have always been the label most interested in us from when we first started out, we put out a single Transgressive about a year and a half a go which got everyone interested but they were the ones to take us on.. Actually it was basically a year ago to the day just over there that it happened. We were signed on the 5th of May last year in Trafalgar Square..

Wow, that must have been cool, I hope you got some good pictures of that event

JP: (laughs) Yeah it was fantastic, lots of pictures..

So how would you describe yourselves musically? I know it’s not the easiest question…

JP: We’ve always like the idea of… Basically, we love pop music, but we don’t necessarily like the way a lot of pop music is musically written, arranged or constructed.. Bands like Hot Chip, Talking Heads, Diva, Ecstacy, that kind of pop music is more interestingly arranged; cool electronic stuff but in the context of a band. Pop music is period but it can be done in a really crass way or a new exciting way..

It must be quite hard to be original and innovative in a music market that is so saturated with so much new music, you need to know what’s out there but also try not to get lost in what other people are up to…How do you deal with that?

JP: I think you’ve just got to do what you think is exciting and really really good, I don’t think there’s any point in over listening to other people or trying to copy them . I think you can take inspiration and influence from other people, like the latest Arcade Fire album…Or like, I know this guy called Dntel, (www.myspace.com/dntel) who is Jimmy Tambarello from Postal Service, I’ve been listening to his new project, and it’s the exact same card; you get ideas and thoughts from that, and think about how to use elements.. but you don’t, well, I suppose yes, you will steal stuff (laughs)

Subconsciously almost..

JP: Well, yeah, you take stuff but interpret it in your own way. I think you need to have an understanding and an appreciation of other bands out there.. But then there are so many bands out there that follow in other bands footsteps too much.. I mean I love The Libertines but I almost wish they didn’t exist because there are so many terrible knock off of bands like that. That is the antithesis of why we are in a band and why we got together..

Did you come from a classical background? What is your musical training as such?

JP: I played classical piano from about nine.., then keyboards in a band, then I was involved in production, writing on the computer and that sort of thing, we’ve all done a bit of that and bring different skills to the band. Max and Leo have perfect pitch and Leo plays the cello. They have their way of writing; they can be quite mathematical in melody and harmonizing and that is why a lot of our stuff is strong on that level, I think some musical education obviously does help, you have to have at least a basic understanding of harmonies, arrangements and melodies to then be able to do interesting stuff over it, or with that…

So how old are you all now?

JP: I’m 20, Max 21, Leo 22…

Quite young, that’s good! Lots of time to go even further…

JP: Yeah, I mean there’s younger bands out there.. Cajun Dance Party are all around 16… I don’t think age really matters. There are other people finally getting lucky at 35-40.. I think one of the reasons a lot of artists are so young is because it takes a lot of courage to play live or face a room of record labels to make it. That’s scariest actually, rather than playing to a shit load of people at KOKO or a big festival in Amsterdam, playing to a room full of 80% labels can be horrible, soul destroying, but fun also knowing you are in the presence of all the big important people..

Highlight gig so far?

JP: That’s a tough one but I’d have to say supporting the Mackabees at Koko. That was excellent because we’d been together a whole month and the last night was sold out and packed out.. We played there the year before with the Kooks, which was horrible. It was far too big for us and we felt out of our depth but this time we were ready, felt like we’d earned it and deserved to be on stage a lot more. We didn’t feel out of place at all..

And in five years it will be Wembley!

JP: Maybe, that would be great, just keeping doing interesting stuff is what it’s all about really

And finally, try and describe your band with the letters .. ICA

After some delibeation with his fellow members they gave us..

JP, Chris, Leo, Max 'Inventive, Cute, Astounding'

Bravo!


For all information regarding Good Books, check their myspace, www.myspace.com/goodbooks look at all the lovely Good Books things you can buy, including their music of course..