There’s a corner of the music scene in the UK and Ireland these days that’s becoming more noticeable – insistent, even – under the increasingly inaccurate and irrelevant banner “Americana”.
What started as a more rootsy, stripped back objection (in part at least) to another of mainstream country music’s periodic drops into hideous cliche and soulless formula has become a cover-all label to describe so many different sounds and vibes, that surely it’ll soon be dropped as any kind of useful descriptor altogether, or, more likely, it’ll become more of an insult, much as the term “Prog” did in the 70s and 80s (and still is today).
In the meantime, one of the more enduring – and endearing – sub-genres in the Americana stable, and one that was one of the kick-starters to the whole concept, is the revision of late 70s and early 80s mid-west rock in the manner of Steve Earle, Tom Petty and the like.
The new single from Dubliner Eoin Glackin is the latest example, showcasing a solid, rock-along rhythm section overlayed with the requisite racing guitars and fiddle riffs, nicely propelling a song that is essentially a protest song in thin disguise.
Inspired by the story of Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to run the Boston marathon in 1960, much to the outrage of the organiser – the photograph of him trying to manhandle her off the course lives in infamy – this is a foot-tapping clarion call to women (and one hopes, people generally) to get on and do whatever you want to while you’re still able. A simple truth, but then, as the song itself ably demonstrates, the simple things are often the most effective – and the most fun.
Glackin has scheduled one UK gig in October, at the Half Moon Putney on the 5th. If you go, make sure your shoes have their tapping soles firmly attached.
Wear It While You Can is out on Good Deeds on 27th October.
If the band, album name and artwork seem to suggest something aimed at the black clad, wannabe pagans who still have visions of relocating to Sunnydale and hanging around with Buffy and the gang, I am most happy to report that Occultation rises far above such first impressions. Give the music a spin and you find yourself in a dark and emotive alt-rock soundscape. Even the term gothic, as a genre at least, is slightly amiss here, for it neither fits in with the old-school post-punk movement or the metal sub-genre it has since become. If it is gothic at all it is more in the literary sense, painting dark mystique, broken romanticism and haunted emotions across its musical canvas.
There is something that lies at the heart of Lynne Taylor Donovan’s sound which seem to make me picture it playing from an old radio at a low volume at night, perhaps as the quiet sound track to the scene of a film, one tinged with love, loss and longing. It is a resonance, a certain sonic heart, a depth of classicism, and a feeling that even whilst hearing the song for the first time it is somehow woven into the very fabric of the human condition.
One of the things which speaks volumes about just how much the world has changed over the last generation is when you are reading the comments of an on line discussion and some one posts something along the lines of “musicians should stay out of politics.” Surely the whole point of art in general and music in particular is to comment on the world around you. Yes, of course you can make throw away dance tunes and music that ticks aesthetically pleasing boxes, but equally valid is music as a soapbox, a platform from which to add to the social and political dialogue, to unite and energise or confront and accuse as you see fit.
Making music is often a case of taking the references and influences from the past and moulding them into a new music sonic experience for a whole new generation. The familiarity of the old and the freshness of the present blended together to head towards a new and exciting future. And that certainly sums up Prym. They take grungy, alt-rock riffs, a classic rock stance and even some progressive infused structures to create that perfect blend of “I remember” and “what if!”
If your first idea might be the most natural and honest point of creativity when it comes to song writing, it is how you sculpt, edit, re-write, arrange and polish the song which is the different between a nice idea and a memorable piece of music. No one typifies that approach better than Richard Schroder, a man who has spent the last two years turning rough demos into a slick new album with help and advice of some of Nashville’s leading lights.
If much of today’s Afrobeat/dance fusion is the story of what happened to the music after it left its home continent and mixed with European influences as well as modern technologies, Afrikan Roots, as the name might imply, is the story of what happened as those heady West African beats found their way to South Africa. Afrikan Roots make a wonderfully nuanced, layered and textured music one which echoes the history and complexities of the country that they have grown up in.
I guess anyone who moves to Nashville, the home of rhinestone infused country music, to build a career in edgy, sultry, underground pop, is obviously someone who sees beyond the veneer of the music industry and knows how to find her musical allies in the less obvious places. And it is an attitude that certainly runs through the music that she makes. Pop it may be but it is pop coming from a very different, very literate, very original place.
There is a strange juxtaposition that lies at the heart of Thekayetan’s music in general, and Ego in particular. On the one hand the beats and drive are punchy and vibrant, creating an upbeat mood and a groovesome vibe, on the other there is so much space in the track that it comes across as chilled, purposefully laidback and almost lazy. It means that it manages to sit in two worlds, both as a minimalist dance floor track all sultry groove and hypnotic, skittering hook lines and as an after club, early hours, chill out, future classic.
It’s safe to say that Murder He Wrote knows his way around the dance music industry, from working with myriad game changing labels, including releasing his debut EP on the legendary Skint Records, remixes for Stanton Warriors and more recently finding a home with Roska Kicks and Snares. And it is only natural that this ability to navigate the more interesting and better-respected waters of club culture and the dance world at large has resulted in a fresh and unique sound when it comes to his output.
