Tag: 2014

Steve has David Woodcock in as his New Favourite Band. Steve has been a big supporter of David and he will be in to chat about his new single ‘Open Secret’ which is the 3rd single from David, which is released just prior to his debut self-titled album out this August.

Long-awaited fourth album from this enduring acid-jazz quartet.

Sarfend-on-Sea quirky pop pianist’s promising debut.

The spirit of Madness and the ghost of Ian Dury loom large on the self-titleddebut from singer-songwriter and pian-ist David Woodcock. Indeed, secondtrack ‘Open Secret’ feels like a contemporary reworking of the former’s ‘My Girl’, with lyrics that proclaim, ‘Tell it to my face not to my Facebook’. There’s other obvious references too,including Blur and Supergrass, Squeeze and even Ray Davies. Although at present Woodcock lacks that je ne sai squoi which defines a great songwrit-er, he’s certainly sailing in the right direction, with songs like the domestic drama ‘The Adventures Of Me And You’. David Woodcock isn’t some plagiaristic musical orgy – he does possess his own quirky world view, aligned to some biting lyrics and an ability to pena series of catchy pop tunes that all suggest: watch this space.

Southend based troubadour David Woodcock has many influences. He metaphorically comes from a long line of British songwriters that includes Ray Davies and Ian Dury among many others. Musically he delivers a sound that mixes new wave with Britpop, while vocally he’s somewhere between Jarvis Cocker and a young Damon Albarn. Well crafted songs, humorous and observational lyrics served up with an unmistakably British slant abound. A debut brimming over with promise.

Must be something in that Essex water that can turn outsongsmiths with an ear for a witty ditty married to a delightful melody, for this debut from Southend-on-Sea’s newest favourite son owes much to the London overspill that has given us Albarn, Dury, Stanshall, Bragg and Feelgood with Davies, Hodges and Squeeze near neighbours. The influence of all these can be heard in this pianist and vocalist’s more than promising debut. From the opener, the single ‘Same Things’, the pace is kept at a jaunty level throughout. A second single, ‘Beggars Can’t Be Choosers’, ‘Relatively Single Man’ and ‘The Adventures Of You And Me’ stand out among a uniformly decent dozen. Uncannily similar in flavour to one of this year’s finest albums, Simon Wells’ The Shopkeeper’s Son, if you like a tune on the old Joanna with a wry lyric in a Cockney twang then this’ll be right up your manor.

4 STARS

Recorded in finest analogue splendour in the Welsh mountains, Big Boss Man’s fourth LP sees them continuing to wave the soul jazz flag, with a strong emphasis on fat Hammond and piano grooves and hip-shaking rhythms. Thankfully, they’re not enslaved by the tradition. ‘Blow Your Own’ has weird synth oscillations and deep space vibrations; ‘Changing Faces’ is painted with bold psychedelic hues and features killer wah-wah guitar blasts that seep and ooze into the cracks of the song like liquid gold; ‘Shot Down’ has a rough-hewn garage groove to it and ‘Project No 6’ has a lop-sided ambience shaped by oddball 70s synth sounds and distorted guitars. There are brief snatches of surreal French fairground music and sitar/tabla grooves too. Music born of the past, but with an eye on the future – which is as it should be.

4 STARS

La Band della Settimana: Daiquiri Fantomas

“La band (Marco Barrano / Chiara Lucchesi / Dario Sanguedolce) con base a Caltagirone è nata durante una jam session estiva, nel 2010. Sotto contratto con l’etichetta inglese Blow Up Records dal 2012, iDaiquiri Fantomas danno vita alle più disparate architetture sonore, attraverso una marcata sperimentazione con l’uso di strumenti acustici ed elettronici vintage, uniti alle nuove tecnologie. Benché l’elettronica sia molto presente, il trio non disdegna l’uso di un certo humour respingendo il cliché che la musica sperimentale debba essere noiosa. Alcune delle loro influenze musicali sono Beatles, Robert Wyatt, Kraftwerk, Air.

Sono stati tre anni di ricerca e sperimentazione per i due artisti siciliani Marco Barrano e Dario Sanguedolce, che hanno finalmente trovato nella etichetta londinese Blow Up il giusto coronamento discografico per il loro progetto di sculture sonore Daiquiri Fantomas. 

Per loro sono stati scomodati termini come sci-fi soundtrack, prog mediterraneo, retro-futurism, art-house cinematic e psych-jazz: tutte caratterizzazioni che in verità possono rappresentare bene la loro proposta, ma i Daiquiri Fantomas sono tutto questo e anche qualcosa in più. Nella loro musica c’è l’ingenuità dei primi Pink Floyd (quelli di “Arnold Layne”, per intenderci) e l’ardire dei primi vagiti della Warp, nonostante i due (di recente un trio grazie all’arrivo di Chiara Lucchesi) preferiscano argomentare le loro teorie sulla musica elettronica con strumenti vintage.

C’è, sì, del contrasto tra le incursioni prog alla Emerson, Lake & Palmer di “Praeludium” e i landscapecinematografici in bilico tra John Barry e il Guardiano del Faro di “Moogchile”, ma è proprio questa preziosa natura naif che rende tutto godibile, d’altronde i musicisti giocano consapevolmente a reinventare certe ibridazioni del passato in brani come “Voronoi’s Dream” o nella lunga suite “Moon Raga”, che scivola dalla psichedelia al pop fino al folk e all’etnica, con una esuberanza stimolante e intrigante (quasi un Battiato era “Pollution”). 

Senza dubbio in “MHz Invasion” il gruppo non ha ancora messo del tutto a fuoco il suo potenziale e il patchwork di “Logarhytm” contrasta con lo splendido funky-rock della title track, ma anche tra le pieghe di brevi interludi come “Karman’s Line” si intravede una genialità creativa che ci permette di segnalare il loro album come uno dei più riusciti esempi di variabile del fenomeno più noto e stimato che va sotto il nome di Italian Occult Psychedelia.

Mod-funk/psych-fuzz sixties throwbacks Big Boss Man will be back with a full album this year and by way of a taster they’ve released the swinging Blue Note stomp of Aardvark to burrow its way into your consciousness. It’s an insistent little hammond-driven crittur featuring some veryun-fuzz guitar from Trev ‘Call me Grant Green’ Harding and a surprisingly brief bongo solo from Nasser ‘Who’s Michael Viner?’ Bouzida. Des and Hawk lay down a thumping swingbeat/ bass rhythm combo of course but nobody’s claiming the New Orleans horn section. It’s definitely on there though. I can hear it.