B*O*B Podcast #2

mp3---> B*O*B Podcast #2 (The Piquionne Issue)

Obscure Sub-genre #3 - Boingra

We’ve had fifty years of multi-culturalism in the UK. The concepts of a community formed by members from all corners of the world have been ingrained in policy making by parties left and right as unquestionably as the notion of democracy. Yet walking the streets of our major cities you will see people fractured roughly along lines of race or religion, choosing to self-ghettoize themselves. Has the past few decades been a futile exercise? Do we need a stronger, tribal identity to operate within than the broad “one and all” British one we are coerced into? Do our boundaries make us who we are?

As always seems to be the case in situations like this, we look for positivity in the next generation, the youth co-mingling in our schools. For before the hang-ups of sociological handcuffs make themselves apparent, equality is the norm. And where youth congregate, new scenes will follow, taking reference points from their homes and twisting and skewing them into new shapes.

Just as early hip hop producers mined their parents funk collection for the breaks, kids in Leeds and Bradford are digging through their parents and siblings collections for samples and ideas. What’s chucked up is Bhangra by the Asian kids, while the white kids are nicking their older brothers “Bonkers” mix CDs, bringing happy hardcore to the table. In school rehearsal rooms and bedrooms across Yorkshire, these influences are been fused into Boingra, a bouncing pounding sitar soaked tabla bashing soundforce that’s doing a better job bridging the sometimes testy differences between splintered groups in the area than any Westminster diktat.

It would be interesting to see the phizogs of the forefathers of multi-culturalism in the midst of all the different faces on the dance floor of The Mill in Leeds on a Boingra night, but I’m sure there’d be a smile at a job finally completed and through the most unusual of vessels.

Rose Elinor Dougall @ Clwb 10th Feb Review

We rocked up around 8 o’clock expecting a quiet one but were surprised to see a good crowd for the openers Silver Gospel Runners. Suppose this was because they were a local band who were last months Kruger’s Single Club entry but they didn’t tick my boxes. That’s not to say they weren’t tight in a wispy indie way, with the obligatory brass for extra feyness but I’m not that into Magic Numbers and music of that ilk. Subjectivity is in for ’09.

Up next were Soy Un Caballo, a Belgian duo with a Spanish name, how thoroughly continental we thought. Channelling Nouvelle Vague with there bossa swagger and xylophones, they played a short but sweet set, lacking a bit in bite although singing in French they could have been singing about anything, the GCSE I scammed proving useless. Can’t imagine they’ll be challenging the holy trinity of Poirot, Bosman and Jean Claude Van Damme though.

In between Soy Un Caballo and the third band Hari and Aino, I managed to grab a quick word with Rose Elinor Dougall in the smoking area. I wrote down as much as I could in my tiny notebook, so she smokes rollies, the album is four weeks away from being finished, there will be a cellist on it, she doesn’t have a label yet, she likes playing Cardiff, Riot Becki (the other Pipette to leave with Rose) is working on material in Brighton and she tried to play my Stylophone, but it simply refused to work even with when Matthew changed the batteries, this was symbolised by the word CURSED being underlined five times (yet it works now).

Hari and Aino, opined Matthew had to be foreign as looked far too happy. A few bars in, I hazarded a guess that they were Swedish, as there sound was suffused with the sunshine indie pop that that country produces in abundance. Y’know it was pleasant and they can jangle with the best of them but most of there songs sounded pretty similar and lacked the spunk of say Alphabeat.

And finally it was Rose Elinor Dougall’s and The Distractions turn. Clearly illustrating again that she had the strongest voice in The Pipettes, her songcraft and sound was a step above what had gone before. Released from the straight jacket of The Pipettes doo-wop pop, Rose has developed a strong, full, structured pop sound which boldly stands apart from the current wonky pop sound in vogue. The Distractions were tight backing, unfussy yet embellished allowing Rose’s voice the limelight. She does cut a slighty awkward front woman, hidden behind keyboard and fringe but compensates with her sheer talent.

Matthew and I agreed it was a good gig and it surely won’t be long before she finds the right home for her album.

Sam

Obscure Sub-genre #2 - Pi-Step

Acid House is often cited as the birth of UK Dance culture and its influence is beyond doubt but it seems to come at the expense of Jungle. Jungle spawned so many scenes, distinctly British scenes from Drum’n’Bass to UK Garage. Obviously other movements from outside these shores have influenced British music but the importance of Jungle should not be underestimated.

“Pi-Step” is the latest spawn whose lineage can be traced back to Jungle. Incorporating the smooth fluid reverberations of Bassline and the fidgety glitchy twitches of IDM and err Glitch, Pi-Step draws a diverse intense crowd from both scenes, old “Warp” acid ravers looking for the new hedphuq, to dubstep and tech-step heads exploring the limits of rhyme and rhythm.

As you can guess from the name, Pi-step doesn’t follow four-to-the-floor or two step garage drum patterns but complex mathematical algo-rhythms. This makes it a bitch to mix and even harder to dance to but does allow the listener to look cerebral, while Frisbees fly around the dance floor as a substitute for jigging. Notes are forbidden as are fifty and twenty pence pieces and the rotund are celebrated. The symbolism of the circle holds shamanic sway in the Pi-Step soundscape and those entering the temple in check or stripes had better expect a hostile reception.

You have been warned.

Interview: Rose Elinor Dougall

I caught up with Rose Elinor Dougall, formerly of The Pipettes, who is back with a brand new sound, incorporating a darker undertone to the pure doo-wop pop of The Pipettes, while keeping an accessible lush feel. She’s in the middle of her first full UK tour (she plays Cardiff on the 11^th in Clwb Ifor Bach), but by Jove we tracked her down and grilled her frivolously.

Sammy Fax: How are you?
Rose Elinor Dougal: Very well thank you, despite being a bit cold and hungry...

S: What were you listening to when recording?
RED: Well I'm still in the process of recording; there have been loads of things over the past few months. I've listened to the radio quite a lot, which I guess is sort of passive music listening, but if nothing else it served as a good marker of what I DONT want to do, even though I do like a few things around at the moment. I suppose it’s interesting to try and place what you do in context... Otherwise it’s ranged from early Cocteau Twins, to Steve Reich, Bridget St John, ABBA, Scott Walker, John Barry, the kids outside in the garden....

S: Asides from music, what influences your work?
RED: I guess the musicians I’ve known over the years have taught me a lot. There are a few people in my life, that don't necessarily influence my work, but certainly whose opinions I respect very highly, and I’m sure have played some unconscious part in the way my songs have formed themselves.... Going for walks in the woods or by the sea, sitting on buses, London, films, novels, photos, paintings all the usual things like that... When you experience something like a piece of music, or a building or some really delicate bit of embroidery or something and you just have no idea how it was achieved, its totally amazing... I would like to try and create a mystery like that for someone else one day...

S: Do you feel any pressure to conform to the current movements in solo female music, say the electronics of La Roux, Little Boots, Lady Gaga etc, or Winehouse-style soul?
RED: I guess it is hard in some ways because there are a lot of solo females out there currently that are getting lumped together, but I do resent 'female artists' being viewed as a genre of music, I think all of these people are doing very different things...I don't really see how my music relates to them very much. I don't really imagine what I do to be particularly trendy or fashionable at any point, I would sort of like to exist outside of all of that crap... I would hope that the fact there are more women being successful in the music industry was a positive thing, not an opportunity for women to be competitive with each other... I'm mainly concerned with focusing on what I do and hopefully my output will find its own little place somewhere...

S: What is the writing process like for you?
RED: Well it generally involves me locking myself up in my room for a couple of days... Sometimes I’ll already have little ideas for melodies or words that I might have come up with whilst waiting for the bus or something, and I’ll try and work out how to fit them into some kind of cohesive structure, otherwise I’ll just mess around on my Casio for a few hours and see if any ideas come out that way. I tend to record everything as I go along, which I never used to do, and build up layers slowly, which helps me explore harmony and rhythm etc... I am tough on myself never to delete anything...

S: How are you finding being the focal point on stage now?
RED: Well it doesn't really feel like that because I’m playing with my band, The Distractions, which stops me from feeling lonely...I suppose its not something I’m totally comfortable with yet, I can't pretend I don't enjoy having more control over everything, but I guess I try not to think about all that stuff too much. In the Pipettes there were choreographed movements and a whole aesthetic to work with which made it much easier in some ways to be on stage, and so now I probably feel slightly more exposed, but also a bit liberated to be more natural..

S: How have your experiences in The Pipettes affected your new direction?
RED: I learnt so much from being in the pipettes, and am really proud to have been involved. This project is far more personal, and there are different priorities. The music I am making now is not so concerned with the idea of writing pop songs, and I think that experience helped me work out how I related to writing songs for myself, in terms of understanding what is important to me and it gave me the confidence to embrace my own musical instincts.

S: Is there an instrument you can’t play that you would like to?
RED: Loads, I would love to be able to play things like dulcimers and bazoukis and things like that. I love cellos too.

S: Do you like Stylophones and would you play mine?
RED: Yes I do, and most certainly. Georgia, our bass player, was given one the other day and we spent hours annoying everyone around us with it. We're gonna try and get it involved on our live set somehow, but they are surprisingly hard to play melodies on...

S: How do you find touring?
RED: I miss it!!!! Me and the new band have had a few little adventures so far, but I can't wait to go on a proper tour again. It is one of the weirdest ways to spend your time, you exist in this mental little bubble for a few weeks, and even when it gets a bit tough, it is just the best thing...

S: When were you happiest?
RED: Blimey, I was pretty happy the other day when I was dancing around my room with some of my friends, hopefully I haven't had the happiest time yet, maybe I have, who knows...

S: Any regrets?
RED: Not yet I don't think... I'm only 22 so I hope I’m too young for that sort of thing, but don't really believe in regretting things...

S: If someone was starting out now on a career in music, do you have any advice?
RED: Haha, probably not! I guess just make sure that you are doing it for the right reasons, and that you are prepared for the long haul, and to try and not to take yourself too seriously...

S: Vinyl, Tape, CD or mp3?
RED: Vinyl

S: Desert Island Discs time, I find it’s less traumatic than the “your house is on fire” line, which five records would you take with you?
RED: AAAAHHHHHH I hate these kind of questions. What good would records be without a record player? I think some nice stuff like Percy Faith and his Orchestra would set the tone nicely... haha sorry I know that’s rubbish....
S: What’s your favourite smell?
RED: Someone bought me some hyacinths the other day; I forgot how much I love the smell of them...

S: If you where made the Emperor of Education, which book would you make everyone read? RED: Maybe the dictionary, I find people don't know enough words:(I include myself in that).

S: If you had to go to a fancy dress party and you knew someone at the BBC Costume Dept. What would you go as?
RED: I sort of hate fancy dress parties.

S: Who were you musical heroes as a teenager?
RED: Joni Mitchell, Bjork, Jarvis Cocker. I have to admit I was a bit in love with Damon Albarn when I was 13...

S: Any tips for dealing with the recession? Mine is to wear rose-tinted glasses, as every thing looks better when wearing them.
RED: That sounds like a great plan...San Miguel is a quid in Wetherspoons.

S: Lions, Tigers or Bears?
RED: Tigers.

S: Have you been Rick-rolled?
RED: The Pipettes did it when it was announced that me and Becki had left I think...

S: Do you like Scrabble? If so what’s your best word? I got Anthrax into a game once…
RED: Yes I do, but I’m a bit rubbish...I recall getting Audible on a triple which I was pretty chuffed with...

S: If you had the power to bring stuff back from extinction, would you bring back a Sabre Tooth Tiger or a Woolly Mammoth? Dweebs or Astros?
RED: Woolly Mammoths seem to be a bit friendlier that sabre tooth tigers... Dweebs for sure, but I think I always liked Nerds better...

S: What do you have planned for the year ahead and further afield?
RED: Well to get the record finished, try and find a way of putting it out, hopefully me and the band can play as many gigs as possible and do a few festivals, and then maybe have a sleep, and do it all over again... I think I’m gonna try and make another record as soon as this one is done, me and my producer were drunkenly spouting ideas about it last night...

S: Tell me a joke.
RED: Boris Johnson

Rose Elinor Dougall (ex-Pipettes), Hari and Aino, Soy un Caballo and Silver Gospel Runners @ Clwb Ifor Bach, February 10th doors @ 7.30pm

Big thanks to Liz@Loose, for making the magic happen.

mp3---> Rose Elinor Dougall - Another Version of Pop Song

Obscure Sub-genre #1 - Nautical House

There’s a new sound ripping up the south coast of England, congregating in Plymouth and Portsmouth. It’s getting locals and those on shore-leave together in beautiful harmony, throwing shapes that would make Pop-eye cream his pants. This all encompassing, all enveloping, all embracing sound is “Nautical House”. Goodness knows how many things have been written about the way house music brings people together, so I’m not going to throw my pieces of eight in too, but I will quickly say that the violence that has scarred many a Friday night in these naval towns has all but disappeared since the emergence of this sub-scene last year. Coincidence?

As you can imagine Nautical House takes it’s inspiration from the sea. From sampling the sounds of waves and seagulls to incorporating melodies and rhythms of old sea shanties, this sounds like nothing you’ve heard before albeit the four to the floor house beat, naturally.

Portsmouth seems to favour a smoother organic almost Balearic strand of Nautical such as Fred Falke’s “8.08pm @ The Beach” while Plymouth, influenced by the great tradition of Acid music that spills out from Cornwall on the other side of the Tamar, tend to head for the harder, more breakbeat end of Nautical House. Check Cylob’s “Drunken Sailor”. You gotta be careful though, play out one style in the other town and you’ll sink quicker than the Kursk.

Whether this a video versus Betamax struggle for supremacy or just healthy variation in the scene remains to be seen, but hopefully this battle will be fought in the charts of 2010 than in the streets on the south coast.

Unknown Artist - Ask Tekken

I think this is what they call "Italo-disco". I know its definitely disco, ladies and gentleman baa-baaing and doo-dooing, a walky talky bassline, understated synth-a-tronics and an infinitesimal funky breakdown in the middle, oh this is certainly disco...but is the nice lady singing Italian? Apparently even if she's not, that doesn't necessarily disqualify it from Italo-disco status. How thoroughly confusing. Huge in Shoreditch in 2007 but don't let that put you off, it's ruddy brilliant especially if you heart a bit of Metro Area.

mp3---> Unknown Artist - Ask Tekken

Where I found it... and where you can buy the album

Wavves

Leading the charge, or if you heart puns, at the crest of a new wave of bands coming outta the US, Wavves is quickly becoming omnipresent in the music blogosphere. Alongside No Age, Vivian Girls, Blackblack, Arch M, Natural Numbers and Ducktails, it seems the sound of ’09 is a return to the DIY, lo-fi ethic of garage rock but also drawing widely from sources such as surf-rock, Phil Spector, Neu!, The Stooges, drone-rock and grunge. Instead of being inhibited by limited budgets and rudimentary recording equipment, these bands make it intrinsic and vital to there art.

The rehabilitation of grunge in popular music is somewhat overdue and it’s almost inevitable that after the resurgence of interest in post-punk (Bloc Party, Futureheads, The Rapture etc.) that musicians would skip the hair metal pomp of the mid 80’s and head straight to grunge. That’s not to say that Wavves etc is merely regurgitating the tropes of that scene, but rather invoke the feel of grunge while by-passing some of the more lumpen visceral elements, instead incorporating harmonies that are like The Beach Boys, particularly on “Weed Demons” and “So Bored”.

To see what I mean head down to Buffalo in Cardiff on the 4^th of March where Wavves will be supported by all-girl three piece Pens.

Sam

mp3--->Wavves - So Bored

mp3--->Wavves - Weed Demon

A Warrah

mp3--->B*O*B podcast #1 "The Warrah Issue"

B*O*B Podcast #1 "The Warrah Issue"

Rounding up the best mp3s posted all around the intermaweb over the past couple of weeks and pointing you to where you can get it, B-O-B is your 30 minute chunk of the good shit.

In episode # 1 you'll find stuff from Hot Chip, Diplo, Passion Pit and a nifty Pet Shop Boys cover amongst other lovely things.

Comments, recommendations and dubious jokes are more than welcome.

Sam

Oh and a Warrah is fox/wolf that was native to the Falkland Islands before they Dodoed around 1880

mp3---> B*O*B Podcast #1 "The Warrah Issue"

Edit: You can stream this on MixCloud