SIR-VERE 's new single: 'Night Time' reviewed by John Robbins

Extricate first encountered Sir-Vere when they headlined a jam-packed line up of Wall of Sound-affiliated live acts at Birthdays in Dalston. Among the many things to love about this trio of Milton Keynes misfits was the way they seemed the very opposite of the studied cool that their hipster-friendly surroundings appeared to demand of them. A shaven headed man in an x-rated t shirt stood behind the decks, one ear of his headphone clutched to his ear, as a syccession of crashing breakbeats, bleeps and rumbling basslines poured forth. To his right, cloth capped, bearded guitarist Gary Morland alternated between overdriven power chords and superfly funk licks, while front man Craig Hammond stood centre stage, throwing menacing, effect-laden vocal pronouncements into the resulting collision of sounds.

It's a sound that could only really have been concocted away from London and its legions of subcultural tribes, where every sub-genre is catered for. Sir-Vere sound more like the product of that one alternative space that exists in most towns and smaller cities, that bar or pub or club that acts as the only refuge from mainstream pop culture. Where you'll hear Prodigy or Kraftwerk on the jukebox one minute, AC/DC or Metallica the next, where Kraftwerk and Killing Joke rub shoulders with James Brown or Parliament on the playlist.

All of which is particularly relevant when it comes to their latest single 'Night Time', the teaser for their September-scheduled 'Psychoballistic Funk' album. The lyrics revolve around a weekend spent embracing smalltown delights to the full – jumping in taxis, hitting dancefloors, getting wasted and pursuing objects of desire, in this case a mysterious woman just back from Milan who plays her Rickenbacker “like Johnny Marr.”. The simple pleasures in life, basically.

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That's all set to a soundtrack that's every bit as riotous and unrestrained as their live show. Rampaging live drums processed with precision, guitars that sound closer to explosions than melody and vocals with just a whiff of the late, great Mark E Smith. It’s an irresistible combination whatever time of the day or night you encounter it, and one that’s got us salivating at the thought of their impending long player. Sir-Vere, we salute you Sir!

Text by John Robbins July 2018

Photo by Frazer Waller

All For You by Lara Smiles reviewed by Ben Willmott

The tag singer-songwriter brings certain images immediately to mind – acoustic guitars, floral dresses or beards (sadly, never together) and a misguided prioritising of navel gazing self-examination over good old-fashioned entertainment.

Luckily for us, these are all cliches that London singer-songwriter  Lara Smiles appears more than capable of neatly sidestepping.  Enlisting the production skills of Killing Joke bassist, McCartney collaborator and super-producer Youth, this is the first fruit of the sessions for her forthcoming debut album and it's quite the stonker.

'All For You' kicks off by laying down a slinky, tight funk groove – the press release namechecks ESG but to these ears it's more like their fellow NYC comrades Liquid Liquid – and then throws itself headlong into classic pop chorus in a hail of crunchy guitar crossfire.  The ghosts of the Big Apple's legendary punk petri dish CBGBs in general, and Blondie and Talking Heads in particular, seem to be coming out to play as the barriers between dance and rock, pop and punk, headbanging and footsto9mping all dissolve in front of our ears.

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Which, from what we've heard. is very much the modus operandi of the album to follow.  While it won't all sound like this – Smiles is just as fond of twisting the templates of electronic music to her needs as this guitar-heavy sound - it will doubtless show a similar disregard for convention, which is just how we like it. In the meantime, we challenge to hear this and not catch yourself humming it all next week.

Text by Ben Willmott 2018

Burnt Ends by Hot Sauce Pony reviewed by John Robbins

As Wiley mockingly asked in his hilarious, pigeonholer-mocking song of the same name.... 'Wot U Call It?!'

Well, that's not an easy one. A quick listen to 'Burnt Ends' – and at one minute, ten seconds, a quick listen truly is the only way to hear this song –reveals the following... A distorted bass intro that could be Lemmy in a particularly grumpy mood. A lurching groove that's so implausibly heavy it makes a good case for being included in the periodic table of elements. A rising wall of feedback fed through an array of mysterious pedals, and splintered guitar notes that sound like glass shattering. It's way too weird to be metal, too clever to be punk and it would have the average wimpy indie kid involuntarily evacuating their bowels in fear.

And above this amorphous explosion of sound, arrives the voice of Caroline Gilchirst, as pure and heavenly as her accompaniment is grimy and hellish. Just to add to the lovely confusion, you understand. 'Burnt Ends' is a teaser for this South London four piece's self-titled debut album, and in many ways it raises more questions than it answers, not least 'when can we have some more?!' Whatever it contains, we can only really be certain that it will be like nothing we've ever heard before.

On closer inspection, their promotional bumph reveals that the band themselves have created a name for it – avant hard. It makes total sense, even if you're unlikely to find a section devoted to it in Rough Trade. So take up their challenge and immerse yourself in the sonic equivalent of a star collapsing on itself or the atom being very violently split Go on – come and have a go if you think you're avant hard enough.

'Burnt Ends' is out on Brixton Hillbilly on June 22. 

Text by John Robbins May 2018

PAUL SCHUTZE - The Sky Torn Apart reviewed by Ben Willmott

Paul Schütze has worked for over thirty years on the fringes of the field of experimental music – alongside parallel work in photography, video and installation – and he shows no signs of selling out yet.

Hailing from Australia and a founding member of cult bands Laughing Hands and of Phantom City, he’s worked with everyone from Bill Laswell and Lol Coxhill to Max Eastley, Jah Wobble and David Toop.  His latest offering has an environmental theme, apparently drawing on the Nordic myths of Ragnarök in which the earth is subsumed by water as a consequence of divine conflict, which although is an anoient tale seems to have much relevance to the planet’s plight as the global warming catastrophe begins to take hold.

There’s only one, epic 56-minute track, and, as you might expect from someone whose label is called Glacial Movements, it moves almost imperceptibly along with its narrative while being eerie listening throughout.  Using sound to paint pictures, Schütze seems to have confined us to a claustrophobic jungle cave at first, where water drips down the walls and noises of great foreboding happen at sudden intervals.  Eventually it moves into more wide open territory, but even then, the long, searing synthesiser notes – there are echoes of Vangelis’ ‘Bladerunner’ score here – seem to have a note of discord and imminent jeopardy.  Trouble in paradise, for sure.

It’s what you might call ambient music except that far from being sonic wallpaper or even a reassuring, calming presence, this unnerving symphony creeps into your consciousness and twists your mood without mercy.  Play it in a chill out room and you’ll have the casualties running for the St John’s Ambulance!

Paul Schütze might be a strange cause to champion on a site devoted to more punk rock sensibilities, but ‘The Sky Torn Apart’ is far from hippy dippy thinking.  It’s sharp and undiluted, and all too easy to get sucked into.  Uneasy listening anybody?!

Cover photo by Bjarne Riesto

 Sleeve design by Rutger Zuydervelt

Text by Ben Willmott

The 30th Anniversary of R.E.M's best album Green by Denni Rusking

Micheal Stipe: "The buzz words for Green were 'crunchy' and 'angular'; anything jangly or comfortable was out."

Music journalist: "A lot of people would say that you are mad"

Micheal Stipe: "A lot of people eat bacon and crisps for breakfast."

I never thought R.E.M was a great name for a band and when I was told R.E.M stood for "Rapid Eye Movement" (a physiological term for the stage of the sleep cycle at which dreaming begins) I liked it slightly less. I think the band have made more bad albums than good ones and I wasn't sad when they split up. And yet, credit where it's due... 30 years ago R.E.M (who were nearly called "Slut Bank") released a fucking fantastic record called "Green". I've been listening to "Green" a lot recently and I've decided it's the band at their absolute peak and I agree with both Kurt Cobain and The Times newspaper that "Green" is one of the best albums of all time.

"Green" was the band's 6th studio album and their first for a major label. 
Peter Buck: "R.E.M is part lies, part heart, part truth and part garbage". 
"Pop Song 89" and "Stand" are Big, dumb pop songs. They're so dumb they're kind of smart.
Orange Crush is probably about the Agent Orange chemical warfare programme in Vietnam

41:01 (11 tracks) first release on a major, Singer Michael Stipe had reportedly told his bandmates to "not write any more R.E.M.-type songs". Larry Graham 5 star review in Q The Times included it in their list of 100 best albums of all time

 “Run a carbon-black test on my jaw/ And you will find it’s all been said before” — “Hairshirt”

"World Leader Pretend" is one of the great R.E.M. songs.

 “It was the first song I felt so confident about that we printed the lyric on the sleeve, allowing people to read it before they heard it,” Stipe tells me a few days later, in a London hotel. “I realised it was my take on Leonard Cohen. I was trying to be as smart as he was in his lyric writing.” The band had formed in 1980, “so you could say it was eight years in the making”, he adds.

Text by Denni Rusking 2018

Debut solo single by Gon Von Zola

Gon Von Zola shares the video for his debut solo single 'Blue Is...' ahead of a date at Hackney's Paper Dress tomorrow night (April 24).

Penned in collaboration with Sue Denim of 'Mighty Boosh' favourites Robots In Disguise, the track is lively and sun-kissed but there are darker undertones at work beneath the surface

Gon von Zola is based in North London but his heritage is an intriguing mix of Swedish, Indian, Estonian and German genes, arriving in London from his native Leipzig a few years back with a fiver in his pocket and a burning desire to throw himself into the capital's gig scene.

Formerly the mastermind behind band The Budda Cakes, he's played everything on 'Blue Is.,..' himself aside form the backing vocals, which come courtesy of Mia Unklar.

'Blue Is, ' is out on Before Sunrise Records on May 25.

LIVE DATES

Tuesday April 24 – Paper Dress, Hackney

Wednesday June 13 – Mark Beaumont presents… Camden Monarch

Instagram.com/gonvonzola 

Text by John Robbins 2018

Push The Boat Out

Push The Boat Out is a group show curated by
 James F. Johnston and Harry Pye with guidance from Amelie Lindsey

The exhibition takes place in the last week of July at The Art Academy Newington.
The 8 artists in the show are; James F Johnston, Gordon Beswick, Morrissey Hancock, Kate Murdoch, Cedar Lewisohn, Corin Johnson, Nicola Hicks, and Harry Pye

Please Note: The images you are about to see probably wont be in the exhibition they are just here as a very rough guide / introduction

ARTIST # 1  James F. Johnston

Image above: Mad Sky Over London by James F. Johnston 2018

Image above: Red Bird by James F. Johnston 2018

Image above: Age of Cruelty by James F. Johnston 2018

Image above: The Moon by James F. Johnston

James has exhibited prints based on his paintings in two recent shows at Gallery 64a in Whitstable.

In Jan 2015 he was part of PJ Harvey's Artangel project that took place in Somerset House.

To read James Johnston's profile on Wikipeda click on here

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ARTIST # 2 Gordon Beswick

Image Above: Magic Mountain by Gordon Beswick 2017

Image Above: (Left to right: Gordon Beswick, Jonas Ranson, Harry Pye holding screen print of Elephant & Castle by Gordon Beswick and Harry Pye)

Image Above: Horizon by Gordon Beswick 2017

Gordon Beswick was educated at Newcastle Under Lyme and Brighton College of Art. Gordon Beswick's films have been shown at Tate Britain, The South London Gallery and The Institute of Contemporary Art. . Collaborative paintings by Gordon and Harry Pye have appeared in celebrated shows at Sartorial Contemporary Art in Kings Cross and Galeria Thomas Cohn in Sao Paulo. In May 2010 Beswick & Pye were invited to take part in Tate Modern's Souls For Sale extravaganza and had their work exhibited in the Turbine Hall. In December 2010 Gordon and Harry's painting “Stacie of Preston” was sold at a charity auction held at The Victoria & Albert Museum. Money raised went to the Breakthrough cancer charity. In April 2012 Team Beswick & Pye took part in "Secret 7" at the Idea Generation gallery in Shoreditch. Their design for a seven Inch single by The Cure was sold in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust. In the same month a compilation of their films were screened at Tate Britain's Manton Studios as part of Late at the Tate. In October 2012 Team Beswick & Pye's painting of Martin Luther King was featured in part of Art Below's Peace Project. The painting was exhibited at Gallery Different and a poster of it was displayed in Regent's Park Tube Station. In November 2012 Beswick & Pye were featured in The Discerning Eye exhibition at the Mall Gallery. 

 In 2013 Team Beswick and Pye painting The Beatles on a gigantic egg that was sold at an auction at The ICA for over £4,000. The money went to The Action For Children Charity. In the same year Team Beswick & Pye’s painting of Lady Thatcher appeared in both The London Evening Standard and on the BBC news. In 2015 their paintings of Elephants and tigers were included in the “Let’s Make A Better World” show at The Cello Factory in Waterloo. 

In 2016 Team Beswick and Pye made a portrait of Chris Packham (“A Starry Starry Night in Southampton”) which was turned into a 225cm wide billboard poster by Southampton School of Art.

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ARTIST # 3 Morrissey Hancock

Image Above: Chromatic version 1 by Morissey Hancock 2016

Image Above: Chromatic version 2 by Morissey & Hancock 2016
Find out more about Patrick Morrissey and Hanz Hancock's collaborations by visiting here

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ARTIST # 4 Kate Murdoch

Image Above: 10 times 10 by Kate Murdoch

Image above: 30 Pieces of Silver by Kate Murdoch
Kate Murdoch is an artist whose work reflects a fascination with the passage of time, the permanence of objects and the fragility of existence. It is human nature to surround ourselves with objects; they provide us with a sense of self and reveal our connections to the wider world. Often loaded with meaning, objects reflect both our internal emotional world and the external image we present to others. From the mundane to the meaningful, they are steeped in social and political history and part of our identity.

Murdoch works with found objects, images or materials taken from the everyday and mostly dating from the last century. These elements are modified, transformed or placed together so that they retain a sense of their original function, but also assume new meaning. Murdoch’s work employs an economy of means, a process of reduction that results in a restrained, formal aesthetic. Implied narratives are never fixed and allow for audience (re)interpretation. Often interactive in its display, Kate's work invites viewers to form their own associative memories, attachments and responses to her assemblages and installations, in some cases encouraging the handling of some of the actual objects presented.

Kate Murdoch lives and works in South London. She has exhibited as part of the Whitstable Biennale, Deptford X, Frieze Art Fair, and at galleries including Transition, Firstsite, WW and APT.
For more info/C.V. click here

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ARTIST #  4 Cedar Lewisohn

Above image by Cedar Lewisohn

Above image by Cedar Lewisohn

Cedar Lewisohn is an artist, writer and curator. His interested in various forms of exhibition platform, as well as experimental forms of writing. For more info visit here

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ARTIST # 6 Corin Johnson

Image above marble sculpture by Corin Johnson

Corin trained as a stone carver before completing his BA in fine art at City in Guilds. He regularly executes monuments for churches and stately homes as well as sculpting marble for contemporary artists in Cararra, Italy. His ‘own work’, not that he doesn’t commit himself to his craft, is given freer reign and a lighter subject – more often than not it is polychrome wood carving." - Marcus Harvey
For more info on Corin visit: http://www.corinjohnson.co.uk

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ARTIST # 7 Nicola Hicks

Image above: drawing by Nicola Hicks

Image above: print by Nicola Hicks

Image above: life study by Nicola Hicks

Nicola Hicks was born in London in 1960 and studied at Chelsea School of Art and the Royal College of Art. In 1995 Hicks was awarded an MBE for her contribution to the visual arts.
For more info on Nicola visit: here
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ARTIST # 8 Harry Pye

Image Above: Life Drawing by Harry Pye 1992

Image Above: Tin Tin in Deptford by Harry Pye 

Image Above: Portrait of Kenneth Williams by Harry Pye 2018

Image Above: Weird Nightmare by Harry Pye in collaboration with Rowland Smith 2017
Harry Pye has curated shows for both Elefest and Deptford X. He was recently part of the team that organised the "Inside Job" exhibition at Tate Modern
For more info click here