Outside Your House

Now it's no secret that despite the volume of US rappers knocking at the kennel door, Ralph has no great love of hippety hop - however - the self styled 'Barely Rappers' Outside Your House bring a quirky lo-fi feel to the table in a crossover stylee between Ceiling Demons, To Have Is To Hold and a snippet of Snippet.

The release of The Ones That Left Town EP by duo Outside Your House is the proverbial breath of fresh air in what can be an extremely stale musical genre. 

Ralph's giving one of the tracks a spin on Radio KC next Sunday.











Photos Out There from the EP is spoken word overlaid with a melodious lo-fi soundscape, mixing a hint of Bhangra with an almost Brit Pop feel. It's the first of six interesting tracks and each hold their own individual appeal.

Fading Out (Like The Picture On My Work ID) has a psychedelic 60's flavour with a splurge of Jarvis Cocker whilst Improbable Cities leans on a more recognisable hip-hop style but with a quirky electronica background. Top work by the Outside Your House duo.







Blood In The Laundry continues in that vein with a quintessentially British vocal over an almost disturbing electro track giving them an up to date Scaffold feel.

Dennis Taylor Style and Forks finish off this unique offering with clever lyrics (choking on a home-made ciabata) crossing Sparks with Public Service Broadcasting in both an unsettling and yet fulfilling way.






Hailing from Durham, Outside Your House are folk singing, spoken word rapper Faithful Johaness and sweet-singing sampler and musician Jonathan Swift. Together they strive to be one of a kind, and are succeeding with no small amount of aplomb. Definetely ones to watch.

'It's rap Jim - but not as we know it!'

Grab your copy of the EP from this link!

Faerground Accidents

Now strictly speaking Ralph operates an unsigned policy, however an exception can always be made for a band or artist signed with John Robb's Indie record label Louder Than War who champion the underdog.






Especially when that underdog is the extraordinarily out-there Faergound Accidents who; digitally on 9th February, are releasing the single She Makes Me Want To Die accompanied by a gorgeously glammed-up video. If Robert Smith and Jarvis Cocker have conceived a bastard son then Faerground Accidents extravagant front-man Bomar Faery is the result.

Despite the record's doom laden title, it's an upliftingly delightful musical romp. The vocal backed by bouncy, jangly guitar and organ in a Britpop stylee.

Photo by Mark Tighe at the o2 Academy, Sheffield 

It's infectious and fun and should finally see Faerground Accidents garner more of the acclaim they so rightfully deserve. 

If there's a fine line between genius and madness then Bomar is certainly straddling the fence, fortunately for us he's now toppling towards the genius side.  

Photo by Mark Tighe at the o2 Academy, Sheffield

Back in 2012 the Faerground Accidents fortunes took a dip as Bomar was admitted to a psychiatric facility. 

Once recovered he reformed the band, calling on the musical skills of Marray Fenton, Dan Botterill, Michael Breeze and original band member Henrietta Rowlett.









The enforced hiatus has obviously paid off as Bomar and cohorts are back with no small amount of aplomb. 

Upcoming live dates include the single launch in Gullivers, Manchester on February 12th and it's a must for any North Westerner's gig diary. Ralph will be spinning We Hate The Same Things on his Radio KC Show on the 8th February.

Neil McSweeney

There's a bit of a trend for Indie folk/rock a la James Taylor/Neil Young (no bad thing) at the moment and one of the finest exponents currently is the Sheffield singer/songwriter Neil McSweeney.  Despite his relatively low profile, he's worked with leading lights right across the Sheffield music scene. 






Neil McSweeney has toured with Richard Hawley, written and recorded with drummer and producer Ross Orton (Jarvis Cocker, Arctic Monkeys), attracted album contributions from Dean Honer (All Seeing I, I Monster, Human League) and most-recently, collaborated with the shiny bright young things of the city’s traditional folk scene.







After a spell without releasing any music Neil McSweeney brings us 'The Seventeen EP' with four tracks showing him at his musical and lyrical best.  His first release since Shoreline in 2009, this EP is a precursor to an active summer of gigs and festival performances.  The EP, recorded by leading trad-folk producer Andy Bell is a taster for Neil's third full album 'Cargo' due for release in September.







Lead track 'We Are Here' showcases typical lyrical flair deployed in a stirring tune, bringing to mind the likes of Jim O'Rourke, whilst the tracks 'In A Dream', a cover of Townes Van Zandt's 'To Live Is To Fly' and title track 'Seventeen' highlight his musicality completes a summer set that's initially available only as a limited physical release of 300 CD's.


Live support for the release includes shows with his full band which features leading lights from the UK and US scenes -  Sam Sweeney, Lucy Farrell,  Andy Seward.




Tour Dates are.....

18th May - Electric Circus, Edinburgh
23rd May - Grand Ole Opry, Glasgow
24th May - Puzzle Hall, Sowerby Bridge
26th May - Queens Social Club, Sheffield
6th June - Green Note, London
9th June - Kings Arms, Manchester

Festival Dates are.....

7-9th June - Long Division
5-7th July - Ymuno
19th -21st July - Tramlines
25th - 27th July - Cloudspotting
23rd - 25th August - Shrewsbury

Pumajaw

About to ride high on the current tsunami of electro/pop sweeping the country are Scottish masters of the art Pumajaw, who are in the throes of planning a gig assault on Britain and Europe.  The release of the album Demonmeowmeow at the end of 2011 saw them tour Europe where for some reason they are more revered than back in the Old Country.  Maybe the more cosmopolitan nature of the Italians is better suited to Pumajaw's 'music is art' approach.  No lightweight electro here but hypnotic, sleazy, mean and moody jazz infused synth.








Pumajaw are producer/instrumentalist John Wills and chanteuse extraordinaire Pinkie Maclure.  Pinkie has released two solo albums - on One Little Indian in 1990 and on Beggar's Banquet in 1996. John was a founder member of Loop and the Hair and Skin Trading Company, both Beggar's Banquet, until the mid-90s.










The sultry 'Your Arms Your Doors' could almost be a homage to the late, great; always missed, Billy Mackenzie with its soaring vocal acrobatics.....

They've released two albums under the name Pumajaw. Before that they released one album as Pinkie Maclure, one as Lumen and one under their individual names.  They used to be to be pigeonholed as trip-hop or psychedelic folk, but were never comfortable with either and recently have grown more electronic/synth-led, noisier and more rhythmic.

For the recently completed third album, Demonmeowmeow, John swaps acoustic guitar for electric and rediscovers the ritualistic drumming he was known for in the 80s and 90s. Pinkie still plays concertina, but more or less abandons any folk influences and returns with vigour to her early inspirations of the great singers of jazz, blues and avant-garde pop and their on-stage performances are as mesmeric as they are musical.






A bit of hat tip to Bjork on Chinny Chin Chin with it's haunting (wouldn't be out of place in Fritz Lang's 'Metropolis') more industrial  feel.....

They have three releases lined up for 2013.  The first is a remix ep of Tallulah including mixes from Christ. (Boards of Canada) and Crooked Man (Jarvis Cocker/All Seeing Eye, Todla T) which will be released on Herb Recordings soon.

"Crooked Man are working on a remix of Mazy Laws which we're really excited about."

There is also a new album in the works which features songs from Film Noir Classics including Night of The Hunter alongside new Pumajaw songs.

"We are really looking forward to our next tour of Europe which starts in April. We may play some gigs in Britain too but that will be later in the year."



In the meantime here's their dark, atmospheric video of the original version of 'Mazy Laws'.....take your eyes of Pinky Maclure if you dare......

Fabulous news for Edinburgh as Pumajaw are looking towards crowd funding to bring their sensational show to The Edinburgh Fringe.....so have a read and see how we can all help!

Song Noir by Pumajaw - Edinburgh Fringe 2013

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'Song Noir' is the new creation of Scottish duo Pumajaw. We are jazz/blues singer/songwriter/musician Pinkie Maclure and sound artist/musician John Wills.

Plucking from obscurity great forgotten songs from film noir and American gothic movies, we reinvent them with a 21st century approach and a deep respect for the originals. Adding to these our own haunting compositions, we create a world at once nostalgic and futuristic, using cutting-edge technology, traditional instruments (concertina, guitar, keyboards, autoharp) and our own atmospheric visuals.

Reviews

"Pumajaw raised the bar for the rest of the festival. Sometimes growling, other times hauntingly angelic, Maclure's voice was always utterly engaging. Wills is a highly accomplished player and his use of loops and samples created a wall of sound that a full-blown band might struggle to craft. Maclure is quite an enigma and Pumajaw's effect was heightened by the theatricality of her performance, pacing the mini-proscenium and, witch-like, seducing her audience into a weird and even scary world. And the way she handles the concertina would make the knees of grown men tremble."

David Prater THE SCOTSMAN****

"There are eight wonderful, original songs here together with the most atmospheric instrumental arrangements and a voice that is nothing less than thrillingly world class. This is adventurous music from one of the country’s deeply hidden artistic treasures.’"

4.5/5 Sharon O’Connell, UNCUT****

…..You wonder if the neighbours know about them in the local shop. About Maclure fleeing Banff for France on the back of a teenage Jacques Brel fascination; about her extraordinary voice– parts Juliette Greco and Ella Fitzgerald – a voice that would, in a better world, deliver the greatest Bond theme ever.

You wonder if they realise that Wills  is possessed of an uncanny knack for bewitching atmospheres and ritualistic beats.  Or that the duo’s alliance has won them fans from Radio 3's Verity Sharp to Kevin Le Gendre, editor of Jazzwise, who decreed Pumajaw “disarmingly beautiful”).

Nicola Meighan, THE SUNDAY HERALD

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