Vukovar

Ralph's ideally placed to find out what's happening musically in St Helens and a quick trip to Kaleidescope Records on Westfield Street proved to be worthwhile as local band Vukovar have produced a gem in the shape of their recently released album Emperor on Small Bear Records.

I may have invented the phrase Bleak Pop just for Emperor as it lays it's foundations in all that's good from the likes of Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground to The Fall and Joy Division. Similaries with Ian Curtis abound in muso musings just out and that's no bad thing as Vukovar explore the depths of socio-politicality in this album.





Vukovar have created an aural joy in Emperor and their track The New World Order could become a bit of an Indie classic. If uncle John Peel were still with us he'd embrace it and play it relentlessly as will I on Radio KC.

The album is disjointed (in a good way - have a listen to The Staircase with it's narrative overlaid with a deliciously jangled soundscape), industrial, lo-fi, dystopian and addictive. 

There's no division in my joy (see what I did there) on listening to it.

The Black Lamps

Whilst the barrage of music from the 'bright young things' is endless it's always nice when some grown-up music drops into the kennel. So Ralph was delighted when the postman dropped off a copy of the newly released album by The Black Lamps eponymous debut in all its shiny, translucent red vinyl glory before making a quick exit past the 'Beware Of The Dog' sign.








If you're a fan of anyone from Joy Division to Public Image Ltd, The Fall to The Cure then these Barnsley musical luminaries tick all the boxes. 

Describing themselves as a post-rock ambient guitar band, The Black Lamps have created a stunning selection of melodiously crafted 'shuffle and repeat' tracks that John Peel would have been happy to feature on his shows.











Collectively the musical pedigree of band members Liam Stewart (vocal & guitar), Dean Ormston (drums), Greg Firth (bass) and Lyndon Scarfe (guitar & keyboards) is almost as wide ranging as their musical influences.

The Black Lamps have a shared love of The Cure, David Bowie, The Pixies, The Ramones and The Bad Seeds however individualy it's an eclectic mix.

Greg has a penchant for post-punk and the heady days of C86 although more recent leanings are the likes of Mogwai, Sigur Ros and British Sea Power. 

Dean on the other hand has souled out (he regularly DJ's at local Northern Soul Nights) and his particular love is Curtis Mayfield. No bad thing says I.

Liam is very much the wordsmith favouring songwriters such as Nick Drake, Bowie, Nick Cave and Ralph's current favourite John Grant. 





Lyndon however professes an obsession with a multitude of musical delights ranging from elecronica and drone to post-rock and classical. 




The Black Lamps, having drawn on a lifetime of musical experience have created a must have album for any serious music collector. It looks good, it feels good, it sounds good...and by God it does you good! 

Stand out tracks for me are lead track The Archivist and Scissors, Paper, Stone which I've had on repeat all week and playlisted on Ralph's Radio KC Indie Show.

The cover artwork was created by Jamie Briggs from a painting by drummer Dean who is also a noted comic book artist who's work includes 2000AD and DC Comics.

Dub Sex

Ralph's pleased to announce that legendary Manchester band Dub Sex are have announced their first full set headline show for over 25 years, on Thursday 10th April at Sound Control.

In 2013 the band reformed for a special fund-raising event at Manchester’s Ruby Lounge in aid of the Manchester Special Care Baby Unit which helped raise over £1600 and brought together almost 300 fans old and new.

DUB SEX frontman Mark Hoyle said of the evening; “The Halloween show in Manchester was very special. Putting us together in the same place, with a common aim was such a blast and so satisfying that we simply had to do more!”

Guitarist Chris Bridgett “Rehearsals are sounding amazing; we’re adding tunes like Tripwire and Push to the set, the tunes we didn't get to play back in October. Expect a pretty special gig.”

Pic courtesy of © Elspeth Moore

Sound Control is the first of only a handful of carefully selected shows and festival performances planned for 2014. The band is in discussion to release a comprehensive box set collection of their recordings later in the year that will include their John Peel Sessions and previously unreleased Martin Hannett recordings. Current line up is Mark Hoyle - vocals, Cathy Brooks - Bass, Chris Bridgett - guitar, Kev Clark - drums and Stefan Hoyle - guitar.

DUB SEX are often cited as one of Manchester’s greatest “lost” bands. Formed in the concrete landscape of 1980’s Hulme they had a unique, raw and at times brutal sound all of their own. The band came to prominence in the late 80’s releasing 4 critically acclaimed EP’s, recording 4 John Peel sessions and performing on local and national TV (Snub TV and Tony Wilson’s Granada TV show,The Other Side of Midnight) with the release of the classic Swerve EP in 1989. 

A New Band A Day

It's not often I consider blogging a blogger (OK, OK - never) but when I got news that Ask Me PR's Joe Sparrow aka A New Band A Day music blogger had been nominated for an AIM Award as 'Indie Champion' I decided to put paw to 'puter and share the news.

Ask Me PR were hugely excited to let me know that he'd been nominated for a highly prestigious AIM Award in the 'Indie Champion' category – alongside music industry luminaries like Lauren Laverne, John Kennedy and Gilles Peterson!

Joe’s been given a well-deserved nod as recognition for his long-standing devotion to unearthing and showcasing new music on his blog A New Band A Day. The blog's been running for over five years; catching the attention of the music industry by showcasing well over a thousand brand-new, unusual and very independent bands culled from the less-frequented corners of the internet.

Whilst some of the bands have gone on to huge success (he wrote about the then-fledgling Rizzle Kicks when they were still at college), most stay relatively unknown: but Joe says he’s happy with this – and that it’s kind of the point.

“I started A New Band A Day because I missed the rough-round-the-edge songs that I only really used to hear on John Peel’s show… the ones where you could hear the tape hiss and the squeak of the guitarist’s chair; or some obscure deep house track from Paraguay.

“So I set about finding them for myself and sharing them online… I never wanted to find the next big thing (and I didn’t either) and I never really thought about where doing this might take me!

“However, I’ve done things I never thought would do as a result – I lived in NYC for a few months, popped up on BBC 6 Music, experienced the madness of SXSW – but most importantly I have met so many fabulous people who I now count as best friends.

“In five years, I’ve dug up so many bands that thinking about it makes me feel a bit sick – but I can remember all of them, even if all the names are starting to blur into one (possibly vowel-less) mega-band-name now!”

Here's today's A New Band A Day top story by way of a tribute to Joe...go follow him!

Koloto: In The Chromo-zone

[28 Aug 2013 | No Comment | ]

Here’s something dreadful: I listened to Koloto‘s music, liked it; and then saw that it was made by a woman, and then I made a judgement.

I couldn’t even help it. It wasn’t a negative judgement, just that I suddenly looked at the music in a whole new way, merely because I found out that this producer of electronic music, unusually, was not a man.

Sigh.

But just to clarify: there is nothing ‘female’ aboutKill Screen, just as there is nothing ‘masculine’ about, say, Underworld’s Skyscraper, I Love You. (Well, unless you subscribe to the …

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Good luck Joe!